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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24781513">Running Toward the Fire</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dracarysforged/pseuds/Dracarysforged'>Dracarysforged</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Lucifer (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>BAMF Chloe Decker, BAMF Mazikeen (Lucifer TV), Canon-Typical Violence, Chloe and Mazikeen Friendship, Demigods, Established Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar, F/M, Lucifer Feels, Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV) in Love, Maze and Chloe Get Each Other, Original Character(s), Post-Season/Series 04, Protective Lucifer, Protective Mazikeen (Lucifer TV), References to Ancient Greek Religion &amp; Lore</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:40:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>77,044</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24781513</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dracarysforged/pseuds/Dracarysforged</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucifer says he leaves to save her, but really he just leaves everything in chaos. Chloe knows in her heart that she cannot leave Lucifer in the dark and rot of his so-called kingdom and Maze has a bone to pick with her King. With the help of a demigod hunter Maze met on her travels and a crash course in mythology, they venture into the deep realms to get Lucifer back topside but find it might take more than all their power combined to keep him there. </p><p>  <em><br/>Gave me love, gave me sick sick love<br/>But it was me who got swallowed up<br/>Not enough, dust to dust, pray for us</em></p><p>  <em>'Cause I've been a devil, I've been a saint<br/>Somebody help me, I can't change</em></p><p>  <em>I keep on (runnin' toward, runnin' toward the fire)<br/>I keep on (runnin' toward, runnin' toward the fire)</em></p><p><em>Oh, I let my lover go, didn't wanna be a liar<br/>Ashes in the cold, now I'm running toward the fire</em><br/><br/>Bishop Briggs - “The Fire”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amenadiel/Linda Martin (Lucifer TV), Chloe Decker &amp; Mazikeen, Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>69</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Aftermath</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Errors are my own. Set directly at the end of Season 4, just after Lucifer departs.<br/>M Rating for later chapters, may change</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>
  <em>She wonders vaguely where “going into Hell to save someone I love” ranks on a scale of sharing a bathroom to buying a house together. </em>
  <br/>
  <em><br/>Probably closer to throwing yourself on someone else’s funeral pyre if she’s honest with herself.</em>
  <br/>
</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s Maze who finds her first.</p><p>Chloe doesn’t know how long it’s been since she slumped to the balcony floor like a marionette with her strings cut. Pink light is starting to creep over the edge of the city, but her vision is still blurred with tears. There is a single, brilliantly white feather on the floor near her fingers that she can’t bring herself to touch. </p><p>Maze is crouched in front of her but she can barely hear the words, noise distorted and stretched like it’s coming from underwater. Maze grabs her face and Chloe blinks and blinks but still the tears keep coming. </p><p>“Fuck, Chloe, don’t make me slap you!”</p><p>“Maze, he…Lucifer…” Chloe starts, brokenly, startled by how rough her voice sounds.</p><p>“He what? Did he do this to you? Where is he?”</p><p>Chloe’s voice cracks the first time she tries to speak and she swallows hard and tries again.</p><p>“He left, Maze. He went back...to Hell.”</p><p>Time freezes between them; Maze’s fingers slowly bruising Chloe’s arms, Chloe not feeling anything. </p><p>Watching Maze flit through emotions is fascinating. It reminds Chloe of watching Peter Pan with Trixie, and how fairies can feel only one emotion at a time, thoroughly and all consuming. Maze seems to collapse inward for a moment, and then explodes back outward like a supernova.</p><p>Maze’s subsequent meltdown provides Chloe with the strength to get to her feet, wipe her face, and feel a little of the rage Maze is demonstrating.The destruction left by Dromos and Squee is child’s play compared to what Maze unleashes upon the penthouse.</p><p>She destroys the piano first, thoroughly and methodically, hurling insults that cover everything from Lucifer’s hypocrisy and treatment of women all the way to his most minor character flaws, up to and including how much product he uses in his hair, as she reduces even the keys to splinters with her bare hands. </p><p>She must cut herself at some point, because Chloe starts to see red smears on wood, walls, and floors, but Maze doesn’t seem to notice or care. She starts in on the furniture after the piano is a pile of toothpicks, her tirade reduced to raw screaming. Lucifer’s entire custom Italian leather couch hurtles over the balcony and to who knows where. </p><p>Maze sets her eyes on the bar next, drinking from one bottle while she methodically smashes all the ones with liquor she doesn’t like. The only thing she doesn’t touch is the library. </p><p>She can’t quite put her finger on why, but somehow it’s obvious that Maze is more sad than angry; but they all express their grief differently and maybe Mazikeen has it right this time with outright rage. </p><p>Chloe finally lifts herself off the floor, picking her way through the wreckage and climbs up to sit on the bar, away from the glass and pooling liquor. Maze wordlessly hands her an entire bottle of outrageously expensive whiskey, no glass, and then a second bottle of something cheaper, motioning toward the wall where she’s been smashing things. Chloe takes a swig, relishing the burn, and hurls the second bottle, pleased with the resulting crash.</p><p>Maze puts back half a bottle in one go and sets it down too heavily on the bar, scowling up at Chloe. She looks tired. </p><p>“I hate him.” She hisses out.</p><p>Chloe sighs, “No you don’t.”</p><p>Maze opens her mouth to protest, looks for a moment like she might tackle Chloe right off the bar, but sort of deflates instead.</p><p>“After everything, how could he leave me behind?” she mutters through her snarl.</p><p>Chloe doesn’t reply, takes a large swig from the bottle and Maze freezes a few seconds later, sliding guilty eyes towards Chloe. Chloe waves her off, already knowing.</p><p>“You’re right Maze. He took you from your home, treated you like a servant for years, and then he just left you behind? You deserve to be angry.”</p><p>Maze rests a hand on her knee, leaving a bloody print Chloe couldn't care less about, “yes, but, our relationship has always been complicated. He knew I wanted to go home, he should have asked, but Chloe…you and him…”</p><p>It’s hard to appreciate this growth in Maze when Chloe’s brain is a maelstrom, but still, it’s a new shiny thing that Maze should be proud of. It makes her sad to think that it comes from heartbreak, that they’ve both been wronged tonight.</p><p>Chloe puts her hand over Maze’s on her knee and swallows around the lump in her throat, gritting her teeth against tears. </p><p>“He told me he loved me, before he left. That I was his first love, not Eve.”</p><p>Maze’s face flits between those all-consuming emotions: rage, sorrow, and softens into something that Chloe’s never seen on her before. She climbs up on the bar next to Chloe and they sit shoulder to shoulder in silence, drinking steadily and watching the sun burst over LA in reds and golds.</p><p>***</p><p>Eventually, Chloe finds a bedsheet and uses Maze's knife to shred it into ribbons. She douses Maze's hands in cheap vodka, ignoring the animal hiss Maze lets out, and wraps each finger and palm carefully. All things considered, Maze had done herself less damage than Chloe expected, but the bloody handprints on their clothes and the countertop are making it all look more like a crime scene than it strictly needs too.</p><p>Dan finds them that way not long after, covered in blood and curled around each other, still nursing their bottles of whiskey in the early morning light. They barely bother to look up when he bolts out of the elevator.</p><p>            “Chloe! Thank god,” Maze snorts loudly, “there was a report of screaming over here, furniture being thrown off the balcony…I thought…”</p><p>He trails off as he starts to take in the state of the room, the splintered piano, furniture upturned and torn, whiskey still dripping onto the floor, the crunch of glass under his boots, and Chloe and Maze curled into each other on the bar. </p><p>His face softens as he gently pries the whiskey bottle from Chloe’s hand. He reaches for Maze’s bottle and she hisses menacingly, making him jerk his hand back. </p><p>“What happened?” he finally asks.</p><p>Chloe stares at him for a long, tense moment. She’s not sure how she feels about him being here. She wants him to take her in his arms and tell her it’ll be okay, but still she doesn’t want to share this new fragile thing with him.</p><p>“Lucifer left again.” Maze spits out, sitting up to pour back another healthy amount of whiskey and grimacing.</p><p>Dan's soft look quickly turns on Chloe, quickly morphing into pity and with anger, and suddenly the rage that has been simmering low within her rises to the surface. She fairly crashes down from the bar, glass screeching under her shoes, and shoves him away.</p><p>“Don’t you fucking look at me like that! “ She yells and she thinks she hears Maze say “Hell yeah!” behind her but she has eyes only for Dan, stalking up to him until he stumbles back against the debris of Maze’s destruction.</p><p>“You don’t get to pity me, you don’t have that right anymore! You don’t get to be angry about him leaving! You’ve blamed him for everything, <em> everything </em> that’s ever gone wrong. You’ve done nothing but make him feel bad, unsafe and unwelcome, and now he’s gone.” Her voice breaks at the end and she has to press her hands to her face, trying to calm down. </p><p>He holds up his hands, the picture of <em> I was just trying to help </em>. And the thing is, she knows he means well. He’s a good guy deep down, which is why he still gets to be Trixie’s father, still gets to be in her life, but he’s selfish and he never took the time to understand her, to work with her as a team. </p><p>She can’t stand the thought of him judging Lucifer without knowing him like she knows him. Judging her for her attachment to Lucifer or for those she considers friends. Judging Lucifer for leaving when he doesn’t know why, doesn’t know what Lucifer just sacrificed.</p><p>Only she and Maze have the right to be angry about this right now. </p><p>She sighs heavily, taking a step back. She buries the urge to apologize, but gives him some space. She glances back at Maze who is watching her with glee, like she’s hoping for a fight, and Chloe can’t help the half-smile that jumps to her own face. Some things never change.</p><p>Dan is staring at her like she’s a stranger. </p><p>At first she bristles, but it's true, isn’t it? She’s changed now. Maybe Lucifer, for all his progress in their time together, has changed her just as much. She feels her anger like a tempered blade, Maze’s steady presence behind her, and knows suddenly that none of this will stand.</p><p>“Maze and I need to clean up here. Can you let the station know everything is fine?”</p><p>Dan looks confused by her sudden change in demeanor. “Are you sure? This doesn’t look fine.” His eyes jump to the wrecked piano, the smears of blood on the walls, and back. He leans in to whisper, eyes darting to Maze lounging on the bar like a predatory cat. “Are you okay? Did Lucifer hurt you?”</p><p>“Get. Out.” Chloe grits out, the cold anger cracking in her like a gunshot.</p><p>Dan startles back, looks like he’s going to argue for a second and then snaps his mouth shut, nodding.</p><p>“Yeah, okay, fine. Just...call me if you need me, okay?”</p><p>Chloe nods, not trusting her voice, and turns away before he does something dumb like try to hug her. He sighs in frustration behind her and she doesn’t look back until she hears the elevator doors close behind him.</p><p>“Someone has some spark left in her.” Maze says with poorly repressed glee, stretching along the bar as cozy as if it were a bed.</p><p>Chloe looks out over the city, remembers Lucifer standing backlit on the balcony the night before, his face a crumpled mask of pain.</p><p>She turns back to Maze and Maze must see something in Chloe’s face because she sits up suddenly, anticipation in every line of her body.</p><p>“We’re gonna do something crazy, aren’t we?” Maze says.</p><p>Chloe nods, feeling a distinctly Lucifer inspired smile dance across her mouth. “We’re gonna do something crazy.”</p><p>Maze lets out a distinctly sexual sound, jumping down from the bar and gliding towards Chloe.</p><p>“Fuck yes, I was hoping you’d say that. Maybe there is some hope for you yet, I was worried you were a goody-two-shoes through and through.”</p><p><em> Not this time </em>, Chloe thinks, grabbing a bottle off the shelf and pitching it against the bar with a crash. Maze cackles in delight and Chloe feels the lightning rush of purpose, of justice, spark through her for the first time in too long.</p><p>***</p><p>As soon as Chloe has sobered up enough to drive, her brain shifts back into work mode. Who is the victim, what are the clues, what’s the next step? Maze was ready to barrel into hell with nothing but the clothes on her back, but, as desperately as she wants Lucifer back, Chloe knows she has to do things right.</p><p>Her heart stutters in her chest, the vastness of what they are about to attempt before her. She wonders vaguely where “going into Hell to save someone I love” ranks on a scale of sharing a bathroom to buying a house together. </p><p>Probably closer to throwing yourself on someone else’s funeral pyre if she’s honest with herself. </p><p>She leaves Maze at the penthouse to lock it down and arrange the running of Lux while they are away. She was raiding the penthouse for hidden items she had left behind as Chloe stepped into the elevator; methodically stuffing so many weapons in a bag it would barely be able to fit anything else. The whole image is somehow strangely comforting in its normalcy. </p><p>Chloe calls and asks to meet Dan at his apartment along with Trixie. His voice is subdued as he talks, she can tell he’s still wrongfooted, but she doesn’t have it in her to comfort him right now. </p><p>When she gets there, Trixie is humming away at the table, bent over her homework. Dan, sure enough, looks strange - his face shadowed and unhappy. </p><p>She kisses Trixie on the head, exchanging a few questions about her day, but her little Monkey is mostly absorbed in her work so Chloe pulls Dan into the other room and closes the door quietly behind them. </p><p>As soon as they are alone, he turns on her sharply. </p><p>“You’re going after him, aren’t you?” </p><p>She blinks in surprise. Is she that easy to read? Or maybe, Dan still knows her better than she thinks, even if he doesn’t show it that often.</p><p>Before she even gets a chance to respond, he lunges at her and grabs her by the shoulders, his eyes wide. He almost looks...afraid?</p><p>“Don’t go. Chloe, please don’t go.”</p><p>She steps back from his grip and he doesn’t move to follow her, his hands still stretched out, pleading. </p><p>“Why?”</p><p>Dan sighs in frustration, turning on the spot like he’s looking for something, can’t quite meet her eye. “I don’t know Chlo, I just, I have a bad feeling about it. Bad things happen around Lucifer. It’s better that he’s gone.”</p><p>Chloe doesn’t respond, she waits for him to finally look up at her. He must see something on her face, because he deflates without her saying anything at all. </p><p>“I’m sorry.” It’s almost a whisper. </p><p>“He’s a good man,” Chloe says, surprised at how choked her voice sounds, “and he’s not safe where he is. He needs to come home, to all of us. He needs his friends.”</p><p>Dan scoffs and turns away at the word ‘friends’ and Chloe grabs him by the arm, forcing him to look her in the eye, physical in a way she’s never been with him.</p><p>“I am sick,” she swallows hard, “of you treating me like a little girl. I made a mistake with Marcus, the same way you’ve made mistakes with work. We get up, we deal with the consequences, and we keep going. If you want someone to blame for Charlotte’s death, blame me, because Lucifer tried to tell me weeks before her death that Marcus was a bad man and I laughed in his face. Lucifer pleaded with me, tears in his eyes, not to get involved with Marcus, and I went and almost married the guy. ”</p><p>Dan’s face has gone pale and sad. He pulls out of her grip, stumbling back. </p><p>“We all make mistakes Dan. I forgive you for yours. Lucifer never blamed you in the first place. The least you can do is extend the same courtesy.”</p><p>Dan runs a hand over his face, she thinks he might be shaking. </p><p>“I-” he starts, stops, shakes himself like he can’t continue.</p><p>Everything angry in her goes out like a candle. She wants to cry, she wants him to hold her and tell her she’s going to be fine, that they all are. </p><p>For all his faults, Dan usually catches on...eventually. Without her asking, he wraps her up in his arms and let’s her cry. She cries for Lucifer, for herself, for Charlotte, and Dan, and the chaos everything has become. </p><p>“Mommy?” </p><p>Trixie’s soft voice startles them both. She’s in the doorway, just peeking in a crack, but she looks anxious and unhappy. </p><p>Chloe immediately drops into a crouch, her arms out. “Oh Monkey, I’m so sorry. I’m okay, I promise.”</p><p>Trixie runs into her arms and Dan’s arms come around them both, and Chloe can’t help the fresh wave of tears, so of course Trixie is crying now too. </p><p>Chloe can’t believe how tall Trixie has become, her voice different and barely the size to cradle in her lap anymore. But, no matter how she grows, she’ll always be the little monkey in their hearts and she’s always been prone to being upset by Chloe being upset. </p><p>“What’s wrong Mommy?” Trixie whispers, her nose sounding stuffy. </p><p>“Lucifer,” her voice cracks on his name, “He was afraid of putting me in danger, so he left. But, I’m worried he’s not safe where he is and, truthfully monkey, I really want him to come back home.”</p><p>Trixie’s eyes are wide and she twists her hands anxiously in the front of Chloe’s shirt.</p><p>“So you’re going to get him back right?” </p><p>Chloe nods, “Yeah, that’s right. He needs his friends and his family, so Maze and I are going to get him back.”</p><p>Trixie’s anxious face is suddenly relieved, “Maze will keep you safe, and you’ll keep Maze safe, right?”</p><p>“That’s right Monkey.”</p><p>She turns to look at Dan over her shoulder who shrugs, a broken kind of smile on his face. </p><p>“If anyone can do it, it’s you.” he says quietly. </p><p>It fans the flame of purpose Maze had sparked in her chest that morning. She <em> can </em> do this.</p><p>“Monkey, I’m gonna have to travel for a little bit, I’m not sure how long yet. Is that okay?”</p><p>Trixie nods, determination in her eyes, “You have to save Lucifer!”</p><p>Chloe nods, laughing a little, “I think so too.”</p><p>She pulls Trixie in for kisses and they sit like that, a little family for the first time in a long time.</p><p>Eventually, the real world butts back in, Chloe’s phone buzzing in her pocket. It’s Maze, ready to go. Dan sends her out the door with a fierce, tight hug, worry still etched in his features but he says no more about stopping her. She hugs Trixie tightly too, almost crying again when Trixie whispers in her ear to be safe and to bring Lucifer home. </p><p><em> I am bringing you home, Lucifer, </em> she thinks as she peels down the road, <em> you belong here. </em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Come Hell or High Water</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>
  <em>“How do you make a prison cell yours? You put a lock on the inside of the door too.”</em>
</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Errors are my own. Set directly at the end of Season 4, just after Lucifer departs. You will need to read previous chapters to follow this story. Enjoy!<br/>M Rating for later Chapters</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div>
  <p></p>
  <div class="resolved">
    <p> </p>
  </div>
</div><p>“You’re going to what?” Amenadiel says, his face crumpled in confusion. </p><p>This is taking too long, Maze pacing behind her as a physical manifestation of their shared frustration.</p><p>“We’re going to hell and we’re gonna get Lucifer back.” Chloe explains, annunciating like she’s talking to a small child. “Actually, you’re gonna take us to Hell to get Lucifer back.”</p><p>The plan was simple. </p><p>Chloe had swung past Lux to pick up Maze and then they headed to Linda’s on Maze’s order. While they drove, Maze had filled her in on the rough story of Hell and their options for getting there and getting back out.</p><p>Their best chance? Amenadiel flying them straight to the gates. Any other way in was treacherous, more than likely deadly, and would take far more time.</p><p>Amenadiel looks back at Linda cradling Charlie and she nods in encouragement, her face determined.</p><p>“I don’t know. I don’t wish to leave Linda and Charlie, not after what just happened-“</p><p>Linda steps forward, shifting Charlie to place a hand on Amenadiel’s broad arm, “Nuh uh, don’t you pin this on me. We’ll be fine. With Lucifer back in Hell, the demons are with him too. We’re safe here.”</p><p>She looks at Chloe and Maze as she says it and Chloe feels like she’s being stripped bare by Linda’s assessing gaze. She feels an odd sense of relief when Linda turns back to Amenadiel, moving her hand to his chest.</p><p>“Lucifer is literally our family,” she pauses for a moment and Chloe wonders if she only just realized she’s related to the Devil now, and then shakes her head, “I’m afraid of what will happen to him back in Hell, what he’ll become. He needs us and I know he wouldn’t leave any one of us behind. He’s died on more than one occasion to save those he cares about, the least we can do is make sure he knows he has a home here, that we’ll protect him.”</p><p>Linda’s words seem to ignite something in Amenadiel, some deeper purpose that he sorely needs. He stands straighter, his presence filling the room.</p><p>“I truly believe you are the wisest of us, Linda.”</p><p>“Damn straight I am,” she says with a grin and a wink at Chloe.</p><p>“Very well, but I can only carry one of you at a time. I’ll take Maze first, she knows the lay of the land and can defend herself against Hell’s more unfavorable aspects when I come back for Chloe.”</p><p>Chloe bristles at having to wait but the logical tactician in her knows he’s right. She grits her teeth, nodding.</p><p>He moves to the center of the room, his wings extending in a rush, and still the sight makes her heart skip a beat.</p><p>
  <em> Angels and demons. When did my life get like this? </em>
</p><p>Maze brushes past, pausing a moment to clap a hand on Chloe’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll find him. I’ll drag his ass by his wings all the way out a hellmouth if I have to.”</p><p>Chloe pulls Maze into a hug and Maze stiffens for a moment, before relaxing in her arms.</p><p>Maze pulls away without a word, going to stand beside Amenadiel who wraps an arm around her. Linda pulls him down for a kiss and Chloe is amazed at the power in that tiny woman, an angel bending at her command without hesitation, the sharp, precise nod she gives him as he steps away that says <em> come back to me </em> and his soft smile in response. </p><p>Maze gives them all a jaunty salute and suddenly they are gone in a rush of wings, papers fluttering to the floor.</p><p>Chloe stands in the center of the room, suddenly at a loss. She has no idea how long it’ll take; minutes, hours, days? She must look as lost as she feels because she’s startled by Linda gently taking her hand, her face etched with concern, and she leads Chloe to sit on one of the bar stools.</p><p>“Don’t worry Chloe, they’ll be back soon. The last time I saw Lucifer go to Hell he was only gone about a minute.”</p><p>Chloe tries to wrestle the thoughts tumbling through her head into order.</p><p>“The last time he went? Why would he go back?” She pauses, suddenly hearing the words from earlier like a taunt. “What did you mean he’s died for people?”</p><p>Linda freezes, looking a little guilty. She glances down at the sleeping baby in her arms and frowns.</p><p>“Hang on, let me put him down for a nap, I think we’re gonna need a drink.”</p><p>She disappears for a moment to put Charlie in his crib and Chloe sets her head on the cool marble counter, finding she wishes she still had Maze with her.</p><p>She jumps at Linda’s hand on her shoulder but smiles gratefully at the glass of whiskey Linda sets on the countertop next to her. They clink the glasses together, an almost delightfully mundane gesture considering the world has completely unheaved around them.</p><p>They sit in silence, and Chloe wonders if Linda is thinking just the same thing as her. They’ve barely had time to sit in the past weeks, let alone sit and consider everything that was happening. Babies, angel babies, demons, Lucifer’s identity crisis, the sick waves of fear that washed over her, Linda screaming, the adrenaline, the light in her chest when Lucifer said he loved her, the rock that replaced it when he left anyway.</p><p><em> Love </em>. Her mind echoes. How can she love someone who keeps leaving her? Why do they all keep leaving her? And why does she love them anyway?</p><p>She doesn’t even realize she’s crying again until Linda wraps her arms around her, muttering soft words of comfort. Chloe gets choked up all over again thinking about how thankful she is for Linda, for all her new friends, anchors in a life where everything has suddenly become a hurricane.</p><p>“Why do they keep leaving me?” she sobs.</p><p>Linda doesn’t have an answer for her, but she holds Chloe through the meltdown, steady and comforting. <em> She’s going to be an amazing mom, </em>Chloe thinks distantly.</p><p>Chloe pulls back eventually, sniffing pathetically and laughing at herself, apologizing for getting tears all over Linda who assures her it’s nothing compared to what the baby gets on her, making them both laugh again.</p><p>She wipes at her face, takes a steadying sip of her drink, settling.</p><p>“Since we have time, I believe you had some stories you were gonna tell.”</p><p>Linda looks a little guilty, her eyes dancing around the room. “Well…”</p><p>“Please,” Chloe says, “I need to know what’s happened. I need all the information before I do what I’m about to do.”</p><p>Linda watches her for a long calculating moment and finally nods. “Yes, okay, you’re right.”</p><p>“Most of it is not my story to tell Chloe, even I still don’t understand all the pieces at play. I know that Malcolm shot him that day in the warehouse, I’m not entirely clear on how he survived but it had something to do with a deal with his father.”</p><p>“As in...God? He would never.”</p><p>Linda is silent for a long, telling moment.</p><p>“He did it for me?” Chloe fills in, stunned.</p><p>Linda nods. “Your protection, in return for returning his Mother to Hell. Don’t ask me to tell that story, that one is still too close to home.”</p><p>Chloe opens her mouth to argue, but she sees the flash of fear over Linda’s face and snaps it shut, willing to wait.</p><p>Linda sighs heavily, “so, Lucifer was back. The next months are hazy for me, it was a rough time and somewhere in the middle is when I found out he is actually the Devil and frankly even I’m impressed with how well I managed to hide my complete and utter spiral out of control.”</p><p>She takes a shaky gulp of her drink. “Anyway, when you were poisoned, Lucifer went off the rails. He knew the only way to get that formula was to talk to the professor, but, guess where he was…”</p><p>“Hell…” Chloe whispers, not sure she wants to hear the next part.</p><p>“Yup,” Linda says, “and we had two angels, neither with their wings at the time and no time to get into Hell another way. So, I helped with possibly the dumbest plan in history. Lucifer, in the hospital room below you to make him vulnerable, stopped his heart for a minute or so and brought him back. There was a hot 30 seconds there I didn’t think I was going to be able to restart his heart, his mother had to go after him and they both nearly got trapped down there. They didn’t tell me the details but he was pretty shaken when he returned.”</p><p>Chloe only has 8 million questions and never enough time, she tries to focus on the relevant info, everything else can be filled in later.</p><p>“I don’t understand, why would he get trapped down there. Isn’t he the king?”</p><p>A spike of fear strikes her heart even as she says it, <em> what if he’s trapped again? </em></p><p>Linda shakes her head, “I’m not so sure. Whenever he speaks of Hell, he talks about it like it’s a Sisyphus climb, always sliding back, like it’s a struggle for him to keep himself together. I suppose that’s the point, his Hell is being trapped, being forced to be or do things against his will. Whether he’s the king or not, it was as much his prison as it was anyone else’s.”</p><p>She meets Chloe’s gaze with sympathy and concern, “it’s why I’m so supportive of getting him back. I’ve probably heard more about his troubles, his time in Hell, his demons, pardon the pun, than almost anyone, and I’m afraid of what will become of him stuck there all alone again. I’m afraid time is not on our side. Especially with him leaving in such a fragile mental state.”</p><p>Chloe looks around, “speaking of, it’s been a while and no Maze or Amenadiel.”</p><p>Linda tries to hide the fear but Chloe catches a glimpse of it. “Maybe they ran into some other demons?”</p><p>As if summoning them, Maze and Amenadiel suddenly crash back into the living room, barely keeping their feet as they land. Amenadiel snaps his wings in, sending up a cloud of ash, Maze’s hair grayed out with it. Amenadiel looks especially grim and Maze looks like she’s ready to rip someone’s arms off.</p><p>Charlie starts crying from the other room and Linda rushes to get him. </p><p>“What is it? What’s wrong?” Chloe asks, trying to keep her voice calm despite her heart hammering into her throat.</p><p>“Luci’s shut the gates of Hell…permanently.” Amenadiel offers cryptically.</p><p>Chloe resists the urge to roll her eyes. “And you can’t fly over them?”</p><p>Amenadiel’s face twists, unsure.</p><p>Maze snorts angrily, “The Gates of Hell are like the Gate of Heaven. You can’t go over or under, they are vast, infinite. Lucifer didn’t just close the gates and chain them. He’s called the Lightbringer for a reason. He welded them shut, like, permanent.”</p><p> “And posted some nasty-ass guards,” she adds with a snarl, poking at a cut on her face.</p><p>“Only human souls destined for Hell will be able to pass through,” Amenadiel adds, “even Lucifer wouldn’t be able to get in or out of those gates now, not without destroying them entirely.”</p><p>The next few moments are a blur for Chloe. It’s like the air won’t come and the world swims around her.</p><p>“Why, why would he do that?” She hears her own voice say from far away.</p><p>Amenadiel just shakes his head, like he’s never understood why Lucifer does anything.</p><p>“Cause he’s moping,” Maze grits out, snatching up both Linda and Chloe’s leftover drinks off the counter and polishing them off, one after the other. She picks up the bottle sitting nearby and pours the last of it back, wiping at her mouth messily.</p><p>Small hands touch her arm and Chloe almost jerks away. Linda swims into her field of view, guiding her gently over to the couch where they both sit. She’s distantly aware of Charlie, burbling away in a bouncing chair nearby.</p><p>“I think,” Linda says softly, patiently, drawing Chloe from whatever dark place she went, “that he’s scared, and alone. His home here was violated, taken from him, and he’s just trying to protect himself in the only other place he has. How do you make a prison cell yours? You put a lock on the inside of the door too.”</p><p>Chloe nods, mind turning. It's just another case. She has to focus.</p><p>“So,” she says, “what’s the next lead?”</p><p>Amenadiel and Maze share a significant glance and have some sort of unspoken conversation.</p><p>“Care to share with the class?” Chloe snaps.</p><p>Amenadiel shakes his head slightly but Maze shoves him, turning to Chloe.</p><p>“We can’t go through a Hellmouth, your human body wouldn’t survive and it’s only like a 10% chance mine would. Amenadiel could probably get through, but, let’s be real, Lucifer isn’t gonna leave hell for Amenadiel and it would take a long time for him to get in that way.”</p><p>“Please understand Chloe, I don’t wish to leave Charlie and Linda unprotected.”</p><p>Linda makes a sound of protest but Chloe holds up a hand to stop her. “I understand. Besides, you’re right. If Lucifer made Hell impassable to angels, he’s not going to come back on your word.”</p><p>Amenadiel’s face falls a little, like he wants to argue that he and Lucifer are closer than that, but Chloe doesn’t have the time or the patience to nurse his ego right now.</p><p>“So?” Chloe prompts, “Next?”</p><p>“We go into Hell through a backdoor. Through one of the other realms. It will take some time and be dangerous as fuck, but not impossible.”</p><p>Maze climbs up on the counter while she’s talking, ash fluttering down around her, banging cabinet doors open and closed like she’s looking for something. Linda makes a small squeak of distress but no one asks Maze what she’s doing or for her to stop. </p><p>“One of the other realms,” Linda says with awe, “you mean like...?”</p><p>“Like other Hells?” Chloe finishes the thought.</p><p>Maze yells “Yeah!” from where half her body is now inside Linda’s top cabinet over the stove. She emerges with a dusty cheap vodka that was stuck in the back and a dust bunny in her hair, immediately drinking straight from the bottle.</p><p>“Yeah,” she continues, crouched down on the counter top now like a perching vulture. “You know how Lucifer was always going on about how he didn’t control humans, didn’t control who went to Hell? Well, that’s how it works. Humans send themselves to Hell, they relive their own guilt. Lucifer might add some fun to the punishments, but he doesn’t put people there in the first place. You believe in Hell, you feel guilty, you get Hell.”</p><p>“So,” Linda says, rising from the couch, “if you followed another spiritual path, you create your own ending?”</p><p>“Exactly,” Maze nods, gesturing wildly with the bottle, “create your own Hell or whatever.”</p><p>“Which back door do we use then?” Chloe asks, still trying to wrap her brain around the concept but knowing time is more important than her sanity for now.</p><p>“Extremely lucky for you, I have a contact. I recently broke into the business of hunting supes and I might have just the person we need.”</p><p>“Supes?” Chloe asks.</p><p>“Supernaturals is what humans call them. Basically anything other than humans. I got bored hunting humans and started hunting better prey. Much more interesting.”</p><p>“So who’s the contact?”</p><p>“Another bounty hunter, a girl named Aila. I don’t know all the details, but she's a demigod.”</p><p>The ensuing silence is finally broken by Linda’s long, awed, “woooooooow.”</p><p>Chloe fights the hysteric smile that threatens to cross her face. She’s in the middle of reading the Percy Jackson books with Trixie and honestly it’s too ironic not to laugh at.</p><p>“A demigod?” she says slowly, fighting a smile.</p><p>“They do exist,” Amenadiel says serenely but also supremely unhelpfully. He sounds a little disapproving but whether it’s for the plan or the concept of demigods in general, Chloe isn’t sure; the latter being ironic considering his half-angel child is cooing away in the same room.</p><p>“Yup.” Maze replies. “I didn’t get the details, we were strictly business, but she’s a decent hunter. Sounds like she has a shit relationship with the ‘rents but what celestial being doesn’t nowadays?”</p><p>“Hey!” Amenadiel snaps but Linda lays a hand on his arm, shaking her head and fighting a smile.</p><p>“Anyway,” Maze continues, rolling her eyes so hard she’s lucky they don’t pop out, “Back in the day, Lucifer had a deal going with Hades.”</p><p>Linda makes a high pitched eep sound that she tries to hide behind her hands. Chloe feels like she’ll never get her jaw off the floor. Maze barrels on as if she isn’t upending everything the human’s in the room have ever understood of the world. </p><p>“Can’t grow anything in Hell, so, everything’s imported and no one does food and wine like the Ancients. We’d get shipments in on the DL. Lucifer’s never been fussed with details, so I doubt he knows where all the back doors to Hell are and I doubt he’s down there without booze, so chances are pretty good we can still get through.”</p><p>Chloe puts her head in her hands, trying to will away the rising headache that comes with too much information.</p><p>“This plan is insane Maze, a human won’t survive a trip through the underworld.” Chloe hears Amenadiel say. </p><p>“Oh, don’t be a drama queen. It’s dangerous, yeah, but she can hold her own and so can I.”</p><p>“It will weaken the tether of her soul to her body.”</p><p>“So we’ll be quick.”</p><p>Amenadiel sighs heavily and Chloe finally looks up, rubbing at her face as she tries to sort all her thoughts. </p><p>“Look,” she sighs, “there is no point in arguing. I don’t think either of you can convince him to come back alone and Maze is right, I can hold my own.”</p><p>Amenadiel shakes his head, “the longer you are down there Chloe, the harder it is to come back out. Eventually, your soul will come loose from your body and it will be trapped there, whether you belong in Hell or not.”</p><p>“It’s a risk I’m willing to take!” Chloe almost screams. </p><p>He leans back from her, looking concerned, and she pinches the bridge of her nose, breathing deeply. “Like Maze said, we’ll be careful and we’ll be fast.”</p><p>“What will you need?” Linda asks, practical and determined. </p><p>Maze hops off the counter, dusting off her shoulders, uncaring of the ash she leaves trailing across Linda’s house, and starts ticking off the list. </p><p>“We’re going to be roughing it, think camping, with bears and shit. Food and water for Chloe, weapons, dress to kick some ass.” </p><p>“Food and water for Chloe?” Chloe echoes, confused. </p><p>Maze shrugs, “I don’t have to eat or drink, neither did Lucifer. We like it, but we won’t die without it. Once we’re In Hell, nothing is satisfying. You can drink and still be thirsty, eat and still be starving. I’ve never brought a live human into Hell, I don’t know how it will affect you. Best bet, we just bring our own supplies and move fast. Your soul would probably come apart before you died of starvation at least.”</p><p>“Oh yeah, that’s much better,” Chloe can’t help but bite out sarcastically.</p><p>“What? I said we’ll be fast. You’ll be fine.”</p><p>Chloe has to resist the urge to slap a hand to her head. “Okay, so pack light, pack for walking. Will my gun work there?”</p><p>Maze looks to Amenadiel and he shrugs. “Not sure.” Maze offers, flipping a blade between her fingers that seems to appear from nowhere, “can’t go wrong with cold steel though.”</p><p>“Alright then,” Chloe starts, standing quickly and has to catch herself on the couch when a wave of dizziness comes over her. </p><p>“Whoa whoa,” she hears distantly. Someone grabs her by the elbow and guides her to sit back down.</p><p>She blinks the world back into focus, Linda peering anxiously at her face and sitting slightly too close, Amenadiel’s grip tight on her arm. </p><p>“Chloe,” Linda says in a stern mom voice she’s already perfected, “you can’t tackle this problem running on empty. It’s only going to make you more vulnerable. You need to eat and rest.”</p><p>Chloe shakes her head and immediately regrets the action when the room spins. </p><p>“Okay,” Chloe finally concedes, “you might be right.”</p><p>Maze is already texting away on her phone, heading for the door, swinging a jingling key chain from her finger, “it’s fine, I need some time to shake contacts. I’ll come get you first thing in the morning.”</p><p>“Wait, Maze! Where should we meet?”</p><p>Maze stops at the door, a strange, blank look on her face. </p><p>“Don’t worry,” she finally says, “I can find you.”</p><p>“What does that mean?” “Wait, Maze!” “Mazikeen!” They all echo over each other but Maze slips out the door like so much smoke.</p><p>A car revs up outside and peels down the street and Chloe realizes belatedly that the key chain she registered Maze swinging was her own keys. </p><p>“Well,” Linda finally says, breaking the tense silence, “this should be interesting.”</p><p>After Maze’s abrupt departure, the day becomes almost painfully mundane, </p><p>Linda and Chloe managed to piece together some semblance of lunch from what is in Linda’s fridge, sandwiches and leftovers. Linda starts to flag in the afternoon, clearly tired from long days and nights of motherhood and the supernatural. Amenadiel puts her and Charlie back to bed for a while and offers to drive Chloe home. Chloe can see he’s reluctant to leave though, so she begs off, calling for a Lyft and waves away his kind, concerned face. He hugs her once before she goes, a fierce, tight hug that does wonders for the trembling that has taken up home in her entire body. </p><p>He holds her at arm’s length after, watching her face so carefully she blushes and ducks her head. Finally, a huge smile crosses his face and something lightens in Chloe’s chest. </p><p>“If anyone can save him Chloe, it’s you.”</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>She thinks about Amenadiel’s words the entire way home, chin propped on her hand as she watches Los Angeles speed by the window. A flicker in her chest starts and catches, fading and rising like a candle flame as her mind tumbles through all the possibilities, all the what ifs. </p><p>It’s hard to say no when an Angel of God looks you in the eye and tells you that you can, but now that she’s alone, Trixie’s face dances in her mind, her friends and family, her home, her work. She thinks about how fast she tumbled for Dan, for Pierce, and how fast it all slipped away from her. </p><p>“Excuse me!” she starts, suddenly too loud in the silence of the vehicle. Her driver, a soft-spoken old man, jumps a little but smiles kindly at her in the mirror.</p><p>“I’ll take you wherever you need to go,” he offers without her asking.</p><p>She swallows against a sudden urge to cry, “um, Lux. The nightclub?”</p><p>It’s the opposite direction from where they were heading and mid-afternoon, but he simply nods, maneuvering skillfully to get them going the right way without comment, reaching to fiddle with his phone mounted on the dash.</p><p>She sighs shakily, drifting off for what seems like only a moment against the cool glass of the window, but must be at least 15 minutes because she wakes up when the car rolls to a stop, already in the Lux valet entrance, empty of people this early in the afternoon. </p><p>“Good luck,” the driver says, waving her off, “you’re a strong young woman, you’ll get through it, whatever it is.”</p><p>He drives away before the tears break through. </p><p>She stumbles through the doors, wiping at her face, security waving her by without question. The club is empty except for Patrick and a few other staff, moving cases and polishing tables. He looks up from his work when she enters, but just nods his head towards the elevator, no one else so much as giving her a second glance. </p><p>Someone has started to clean up the mess she and Maze of the penthouse, glass and wood swept into a large pile in the middle of the living room. There are contractor trash cans peppered throughout, broken remnants poking out of the top. </p><p>In a twist of irony, the bedroom is untouched. Chloe freezes at the doorway, the vast bed with it’s gold silk sheets still rumpled from the last time Lucifer laid there, a hangar from the suit he wore that day tossed on top, his robe draped over the armchair. </p><p>She sits gingerly on the edge of the bed, her mind still twisting around what she’s about to do. Despite her tendency to fall hard and fast, it occurs to her she’s had years with Lucifer at her side; the time flying by but the feelings growing slowly and unexpectedly, a little sapling appearing in a crack in the sidewalk. </p><p>She suddenly feels suffocated. She tears off all her clothes with desperation, throwing them to the floor, and climbs into the sheets. They still smell like Lucifer, his wildly expensive cologne and hair product, just the hint of smoke. She pulls the gold up over her head, blessed, cool darkness, and cries until she drifts off to sleep. </p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>Chloe starts awake in darkness, confused for a moment about where she is. The sheets slide under her hands, the twinkling lights of LA filling the horizon outside the windows, and she remembers she came to the penthouse. At first she can’t figure out what woke her, the penthouse dim and silent in the late hours. She can just hear the edge of bass pumping from the club below, a barely there tremor, and she sits up, listening intently.  </p><p>There! A clink of glass coming from near the bar. There isn’t enough light in the penthouse to see if someone is out there, but she didn’t hear the elevator, so it’s either Maze, an angel, or something bad. </p><p>She tries to slip out of the bed toward her discarded pants where her gun holster lays without making a sound. She edges a leg carefully out of the sheets, then the other…</p><p>“Relax Decker,” Maze drawls from the dark, “It’s just me.”</p><p>Chloe heaves a sigh of relief, pulling the sheet up to cover herself. </p><p>Maze materializes in the doorway, lit only by the city lights filtering in through the window. She leans against the wall, swirling a glass of whiskey in one hand. </p><p>“You can go back to sleep,” Maze says. “We can’t meet Aila until later.”</p><p>Chloe lays back down in the soft pillows but she pats the side of the bed, gesturing for Maze to come sit and is a little surprised when she does. </p><p>“How’d you know where I was?” Chloe asks. </p><p>Maze pours back the entire glass, her eyes flitting down and sideways to Chloe and then away, like she’s thinking over her answer. She sighs at the burn of the alcohol, leaning back on one arm. </p><p>“I can track you by scent.”</p><p>Chloe’s head ticks up, “what?”</p><p>Maze rolls her eyes. “I’m a demon Decker. You didn’t think my only abilities were weapons and looking this good in leather, did you?”</p><p>Chloe lays back down, “I guess not, I just never really thought about it.”</p><p>Maze scoffs in the way Lucifer does whenever Chloe underestimates him. “Maybe scent isn’t exactly the right term. It’s a trail, I can smell it, but it’s beyond that. I could find Lucifer anywhere on the planet. I once found him trapped in an abandoned basement freezer, a foot of steel on all sides.”</p><p>She looks down at Chloe, her eyes piercing. “And you Decker, I can’t figure out quite what it is, but you’re like a beacon. You smell a little like Lucifer, but there is something about you too, that rubs off on him.” </p><p>Chloe smiles, “if he were here he’d tell you I’d never ‘rubbed off on him’ and what a shame it was.”</p><p>A smile cracks Maze’s mouth, swift and sudden. </p><p>“Go back to sleep Decker, I’ll wake you up in a few hours.”</p><p>Maze melts back into the darkness of the penthouse, not bothering to turn any lights, but Chloe feels better already knowing she’s there and drifts off to sleep within moments. </p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>When Chloe next wakes, it’s still dark out. Maze has a hand on her arm, shaking her gently. </p><p>“Time to go.”</p><p>Chloe nods, sitting up and stretching. The clock says it’s 4 am, no more sounds coming from the club below. </p><p>Maze is rustling through a backpack, throwing some items out on the bed and repacking others. The whole thing clinks ominously and Chloe wonders just how many weapons she has stashed in there.</p><p>Maze gestures to a second backpack at the foot of the bed. “I went through your closet and brought you some stuff.”</p><p>Maze is wearing relatively sensible clothing for once. Black jeans and black moto boots. A black long sleeve shirt and a black leather belt, 2 knives and a set of knuckle dusters clipped at her hips. She rolls up what looks like a windbreaker and a spare black shirt, pushing it to the bottom of the bag. Her hair is pulled back tightly in a sensible braid but Chloe notes with some amusement she didn’t skip re-doing her eyeliner either.</p><p>Chloe reaches for her bag and is relieved to find it’s much the same. Maze grabbed her darkest jeans, a pair of black hiking boots she forgot she had, black belt and black shirt, with a few extras thrown to the bottom over a jacket. </p><p>“What is Hell like?” Chloe asks, standing to pull on her clothes. Once upon a time she would have been shy but there isn’t time for that anymore. “Is it hot?</p><p>Maze hums, eyeballing a blade she’s checking over. “It’s hard to say. There are like, different parts? It’s not hot like LA is hot, it’s...sort of wet. Like going in a sauna.”</p><p>“So no flames, no rivers of lava?”</p><p>Maze flips the blade neatly. “Not really, maybe in a couple of the deep spots but we should be able to avoid those. The really annoying bit is the ash.”</p><p>“The ash?” Chloe asks, pausing in the middle of pulling a shirt over her head.</p><p>“Ash falls from the sky in Hell. 24/7, 365. It sticks to everything, it’s the worst.”</p><p>Chloe pulls on her shirt, a million questions swirling around her head. </p><p>“So, what’s it look like down there.” </p><p>Maze sets the blade down carefully, her face taking on an almost apprehensive look. </p><p>“It’s...not nice, Chloe.”</p><p>“I know Maze. You aren’t going to scare me off. I just need all the facts.”</p><p>Maze is quiet for a long tense moment. </p><p>“It’s like a maze. How’s that for irony?” Maze says, her voice a bitter laugh, “it’s different in different parts, the wind scraping over every surface of some parts, utter silence in others. Your stories says it’s all brimstone and fire, but, really, Hell is a void. There is almost no smell to it, no food or drink ever quenches your cravings, nothing tastes right. Everything in Hell is dim, bland, empty.  It’s endless black stone walls, as tall as the grey sky, and narrow passages, ugly things creeping in the shadows. Nothing grows in Hell, it’s just barren rock. Along the walls are doors, all different, that house each person’s hellscape, custom to them. No locks, but no one ever leaves either.”</p><p>Chloe swallows hard. A spark of fear blooms in her chest, first for herself, but then quickly and brightly, for Lucifer. Trapped in a dark, silent world, no food or drink, everything colorless and dusty with ash? Truly his worst nightmare. </p><p>“And what about the Underworld. Are they all the same?”</p><p>Maze shrugs, “I don’t know as much about it. Every demon kid ding dong ditches some other deep world denizen at least once, but I only saw the very edges that touch Hell. The Underworld was more like a cave, with huge plains connected by tunnels. Water runs through there, but it’s black and shiny, oily, and will kill anything that comes in contact with it. We used to dare each other to jump over it for fun.”</p><p>Maze laughs, throwing her head back, “so many of those idiots fell in. The screaming was great.”</p><p>Chloe decides she’s not ready for any more information at the moment, too early and her heart going too fast. She focuses on checking the rest of her pack, surprised to find that Maze has also stocked them up on the good protein bars, several litres of water, and soft leather gloves. Maze tosses her something that she only just catches and she has to turn it several times before she realizes what it is.</p><p>Chloe buckles on the leather harness, sitting around her waist and thighs, and slides the knives Maze tossed into her bag into all the holding spots, two small ones on her right leg and one longer blade on her left. The holster has a space for her gun along the waist and she straps it in securely, checking the chamber and counting out the extra clips Maze tossed into her bag. </p><p>They both startle at a large rushing sound coming from the balcony, Maze immediately falling into a defensive position, knives up. There are several loud footsteps and then cursing when someone stumbles into one of the piles of debris scattered around the penthouse. </p><p>Maze straightens, “Amenadiel?”</p><p>The lights fade up, seemingly of their own accord, to illuminate Amendadiel, picking himself out of a pile of piano splinters and wincing. </p><p>“My apologies, I didn’t mean to startle you.” </p><p>“What do you want?” Maze snaps. “You better not have come to lecture us.”</p><p>Amenadiel holds up his hands, “No, no. I want Luci back too, I’m…” he pauses, looking at Chloe with sad eyes, “I’m sorry I can’t help. It’s not just demons I’m worried about. Our sister Remiel was here too, she wanted to take Charlie to heaven by force..”</p><p>“She what?” Maze snarls.</p><p>Amenadiel holds a hand up, “don’t worry, I sent her away with her word she wouldn’t come back, but I’m afraid others might...look in on the situation.”</p><p>Maze’s teeth grind audibly and Chloe just glances at the fearful look on her face. Chloe understands, her throat tight with the thought of having Trixie taken from her like that. </p><p>“Maze,” Chloe says gently, “I know you are afraid for Linda and Charlie, but I need you. I can’t do this without you. Amenadiel will be here to protect them.”</p><p>Maze looks back and forth between them several times, still looking furious, and finally points a blade menacingly at Amenadiel. </p><p>“If some goody-two-shoes featherbrain hurts either of them, I’m coming back and dragging you to Hell myself.”</p><p>“That seems fair,” Amenadiel replies solemnly.</p><p>“In that case, why are you here?” Maze asks. </p><p>“I- I just want to help in any way that I can. I’ve put some warding on the house, she’ll be fine through the rest of the night.”</p><p>Maze finally stands down, putting up her knives and slinging her backpack over one shoulder. </p><p>“Great,” she says, her tone sarcastic as ever, “you can help us hunt a hunter.”</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>Maze drives them to a dim, dingy neighborhood at the edge of Elysian Park, almost lost amongst the rest of the city. She parks illegally, tossing Amenadiel the keys, and leads them down an alley between two old red brick buildings, one seemingly abandoned and the other converted into a shop that is closed for the night. The deeper they head into the alley, the sharper the contrast of the world gets.  Something isn’t quite right but Chloe can’t put her finger on it. </p><p>She realizes suddenly that it is the lack of sound. Somehow, in the depths of that alley, there’s nothing, no cars passing or people talking nearby, just the tap of their own shoes and the clink of Maze’s chains. Maze comes to an abrupt halt, hand up, her head tilted like she’s tasting the air and then confusingly enough, kicks back against a dumpster, pulling out her phone. </p><p>Chloe instantly knows something is well and truly wrong. Amenadiel is so tense that Chloe can see the muscles in his jaw working in the bright moonlight. They wordlessly shift back-to-back, eyes scanning every shadow in the alley. Maze is the only one among them who seems unbothered, casually laughing at something or other on her phone, impending doom apparently her element. </p><p>It’s an odd thought, but Chloe finds she kind of loves this too. Despite the adrenaline pumping in her veins, there is also a kind of peace. This is what she does, this is what she knows and what she’s good at. The cool handle of her gun in her hands, the blaze of knowing she has someone to save jumping up in her chest.</p><p>The moon is waxing, but not quite full. It’s bright enough to be helpful, but it also makes the shadows eerily darker than they would normally seem. Chloe can hear Maze’s breathing change, quiet and deep; she pockets her phone. </p><p>In a blink, Maze has someone by the wrist, a silver arrow coming out of the darkness and aimed straight for Maze’s chest. </p><p>Chloe brings her gun up on instinct and Amenadiel takes a threatening step forward but Maze holds up a hand to stop them. She jerks the person into the light, yanking the arrow from their hand and throwing it back into the darkness with a strangely metallic clatter. </p><p>It’s a young girl, 19 or 20 if Chloe had to guess, unassuming and probably unnoticed most of the time. Thick black hair in a messy braid, old boots, ripped jeans, and a grimy white Henley pushed up over her elbows. She’s carrying a long, thin case on a strap across her back, like the kind artists use to carry large paintings. The only memorable thing about her at all is the stunning china blue of her eyes, flinty with anger.</p><p>For an endless moment, no one moves. The girl shifts back and forth, testing Maze’s hold on her wrist. </p><p>The moment ends just as Maze is opening her mouth to speak and the girl rips herself from Maze’s grip, launching herself forward so quickly that Chloe almost can’t track the movement.</p><p>Another arrow appears in the girl’s hands, seemingly from nowhere. She slashes out and Amenadiel appears between them with a show of inhuman speed, causing Maze to stumble backward. The arrow catches his thigh, tearing through the fabric of his pants. To their surprise, Amenadiel let’s out a yell of pain and immediately shifts back out of range, holding the wound with one hand and peering with a confused expression at the blood pouring dow his leg and then at the arrow in the woman’s hand. Chloe thinks she hears the girl huff in satisfaction.</p><p>Maze growls low, stepping in front of Amenadiel. </p><p>“You want a fight, Aila, I’ll give you a fight.”</p><p>Aila lets out a shriek of frustration and slashes up at Maze’s neck, which she narrowly dodges, the tip catching her cheekbone. Aila stays as close as possible, tight inside Maze’s arms and catching her in as many places as she can.</p><p>Maze finally gets an arm in to defend and lashes outwards, hurling Aila against a dumpster so hard it dents. She’s back on her feet in moments but now she’s carrying the slightest limp in her left ankle. They hurtle together once more and it’s like watching two thunderheads meet.</p><p>Chloe tries to watch the fight, but she’s distracted helping Amenadiel tear a piece of his shirt to bind the wound. From what she can make out, Maze fights hard and dirty. She fights to win, and Chloe can see an echo of Lucifer's sharp, brutal movements in Maze’s style. She doesn’t let up, her and Aila coming together at speeds that defy reality. </p><p>Amenadiel and Chloe both let out a noise of surprise when Aila’s fist connects twice in rapid-fire succession with Maze’s face and her head actually snaps back, blood pouring from her nose and newly split lip. Maze gets a foot into Aila’s ribs and Chloe winces in sympathy as Aila is shoved to the asphalt, spitting out a mouthful of blood.</p><p>As the fight goes on, it’s that fraction of a half second slower Aila is that’s going to get her though, Chloe can see it now. Because even if she can keep up, she can’t keep up for as long as Maze can and Aila slows down fraction by fraction as the fight goes on.</p><p>Chloe’s hands shake as she wraps Amenadiel’s leg, both of them with one eye on the fight. It feels inherently wrong to leave Maze to fight by herself but Chloe knows she could never keep up.</p><p>Aila connects with the dumpster a second time, hard enough that her head snaps back and both Chloe and Amenadiel wince in sympathy. She collapses to the ground and let’s out the smallest gasp of pain, almost immediately trying to push herself to her feet and failing spectacularly when her legs simply collapse out from underneath her.</p><p>Maze approaches the woman who immediately scrambles back, mostly dragging herself on her arm. Aila spits a mouthful of blood in Maze’s direction and starts speaking.</p><p>At first, Chloe thinks she just can’t catch the words but then she realizes she isn’t even speaking English. It’s something harsh and grating, almost an unintelligible murmur at the back of her throat.</p><p>To her surprise, when Aila pauses for breath, Maze immediately answers in the same strange language. Chloe looks to Amenadiel who is watching them intently, face creased in concentration.</p><p>“It’s Lilim,” Amenadiel whispers after a few seconds. “…Or, mostly. I think she keeps slipping into Greek. She must have a gift for tongues.”</p><p>Maze reaches out and hauls Aila roughly to her feet.</p><p>“You betrayed me,” Aila hisses out, in English this time, yanking herself from Maze’s grip roughly. “I didn’t think you in league with <em> angelos </em>.”</p><p>Maze laughs, “in league? What is this a Saturday morning cartoon? He’s fine. Can’t say you can trust him, but he’s not gonna try anything either.”</p><p>Amenadiel starts to respond defensively but again, Maze holds up a hand, her unimpressed face conveying <em> shut up </em> as clearly as if she’d said it aloud. </p><p>“Aila,” Maze introduces, gesturing to the young woman and then back to them, “Aila, this is Chloe and Amenadiel.” </p><p>“Hello,” Chloe says, trying for friendly.</p><p>“Hello,” Amenadiel offers, sounding less friendly and Chloe shoots him a sharp look. </p><p>“Behave, we need her,” she hisses under her breath and he sort of half shrugs, smiling in a condescending way. </p><p>“She stabbed me,” he whispers back back. </p><p>“It was a graze, you baby. You’re worse than Lucifer.”</p><p>“What do you want Mazikeen?” Aila says, pulling their attention back to the conversation. “And how much will you pay?”</p><p>Maze chuckles, “good girl, learning to get that money like you should. Don’t worry, we’ve got cash.”</p><p>Aila scans them all warily, “so what’s the job?”</p><p>“We need to reach one of the back doors in Hell. We need a doorway into the Underworld and a guide to the door and back out again.”</p><p>Aila takes a large, startled step back, “Are you insane?”</p><p>“Always,” Maze replies lazily, grinning. </p><p>Aila shakes her head, half melted back into the shadows. “I don’t know that path.”</p><p>Maze shrugs, a demon blade casually appearing in her hands and twirling around her fingers. “I bet you know someone who does. And besides, who has a better chance of getting through there than a demon and a demigod hunter. Chloe is kind of like a human hunter, we can manage.”</p><p>Aila’s eyes light up, “the angelos is not going with us?”</p><p>“The angel is right here,” Amenadiel snaps, “and I’m not going to harm you. Unfortunately, no, I cannot go on this journey.”</p><p>Maze gestures, rolling her eyes and gesturing like <em> there you go </em>. </p><p>Aila’s eyes stray to Chloe, assessing, “I don’t know if a human can survive the way.”</p><p>“I’ll take my chances.” </p><p>“Why?” Aila snaps, turning back to Maze. “Why do you have to go?”</p><p>“Lucifer has returned to Hell and we need to get him back but he’s barred the gates. We need to get there before he hurts himself or something else hurts him.”</p><p>To anyone else, Maze would simply sound annoyed or furious, but Chloe catches the note of panic buried underneath. She’s scared too. </p><p>Chloe takes a step forward, her hand coming to Maze’s elbow in support. Maze looks at the touch with an air of surprise but doesn’t pull away.</p><p>“Aila, please, I know it’s scary and it sounds like it’s a place you don’t want to be, but you are our only lead and I need your help.”</p><p>It’s easily the longest staring contest Chloe’s ever endured and it feels like Aila is searing straight into her soul. When she finally blinks, Aila sighs loudly. </p><p>“You love him.” she states simply.</p><p>Chloe blinks in surprise and turns to Maze who shrugs, “I didn’t tell her.”</p><p>“You don’t have to speak it, I can see it,” Aila grumbles, gesturing vaguely over Chloe.  </p><p>Before Chloe can ask for an explanation, Aila barrels on. </p><p>“You’ll pay cash, up front. I don’t know the way, we’ll need to get help.”</p><p>Maze rustles around in her backpack and produces a stack of cash, “I’ll double this when we get back.”</p><p>Aila looks for a long, tense moment as if she’ll change her mind and bolt, eyeing the cash warily. Maze shakes it a little and Aila sighs heavily, tucking the cash into an outside pocket of the tube on her back. </p><p>Aila looks them all over once more, assessing, her eyes lingering warily on Amenadiel. </p><p>“It’s a ladies trip,” Maze says, noticing Aila’s hesitation, “like he said, the angel’s not going. He’s just tagging along until we have a heading.”</p><p>Aila looks him all the way up and down and Chloe notices Amenadiel smile in that uncomfortable way he does when he’s trying to seem less threatening but all it really does is show off too many white teeth.</p><p>“Fine,” Aila snaps. “We need to go to the park.”</p><p>She turns to leave but Maze catches her by the arm, “whoa whoa whoa, wanna fill us in on the plan?”</p><p>Aila shakes off Maze’s grip, annoyance all across her features. </p><p>“We’ll summon my mother. She moves through the underworld as Hekate, I trust she’ll know the way.”</p><p>“How do we do that Aila?” Chloe asks, trying to be gentle. She can tell that Aila is anxious about this, but she’s also their only hope and Chloe can’t risk Maze scaring her off before they have what they need. Maze thankfully catches on and takes a step back.</p><p>Aila looks grateful for the space, letting out a long, steadying breath. </p><p>“We must make an offering at a crossway. I have the items nearby, we’ll put them in a box and bury it in the path. With luck, she’ll answer our call quickly.”</p><p>Maze snorts, “kind of short on the details there. Can’t you call mommy on a cell phone or something?”</p><p>“That’s not how this works, Mazikeen. Are you able to call your deities on a cell phone?”</p><p>“Lucifer has one, so, yes pretty much.”</p><p>“Both of you stop,” Chloe admonishes, getting between them before Maze can get in Aila’s face. </p><p>“It is rather thin on details,” Amenadiel offers and Chloe shoots him a sharp look.</p><p>Chloe turns to Aila, “I’m sorry Aila. We’re just stressed and worried and we’re short on time. Is there anything else you can tell us?”</p><p>Aila looks almost...sad? “I’m sorry, I don’t have any more information. This is the best that I know to do.”</p><p>“I’m sick of these fucking useless, lazy gods,” Maze spits, “sitting around on their asses waiting for everyone to come to them.”</p><p>Aila makes an aborted movement with her hands that Chloe doesn’t quite catch, looking up and around her with unmistakable worry.  </p><p>“I do not know much of the Christian God, but you should be more careful of the words you choose. Those I know are not kind to those who run their mouths off at the first opportunity.”</p><p>Maze snorts loudly but a look from Chloe keeps her from responding. </p><p>“Meet me at the center of Elysian Park, where the path crosses, in half an hour, I’ll bring what we need.” </p><p>With that, Aila melts into the darkness without a sound.</p><p></p><div>
  <p> </p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Coin for Charon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>
  <em>“Time?” He grinds out, “You are beyond time. The River will let you go when she sees fit.”</em>
</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Errors are my own. Set directly at the end of Season 4, just after Lucifer departs. You will need to read previous chapters to follow this story.<br/>M Rating for later Chapters</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div>
  <p></p>
  <div class="resolved">
    <p> </p>
  </div>
</div><p>
  <span>They cover distance quickly through the dark. Maze maneuvers like a jungle cat, her movements seamless and quick from shadow to shadow. Amenadiel probably wouldn’t know that kind of grace or subtlety if it came up and slapped him, but his feet are silent on the ground and he keeps up without complaint. Chloe feels like an elephant around them; loud, uncoordinated, and impossibly easy to spot. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe is vigilant as they make their way, every sound and movement around them winding the tension in her tighter. She’s not sure what she expects to come out of the dark, tree covered landscape: Aila, demons, angels, any of the things Maze hunts in the night. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They beat Aila to the crossroad, but only by a few minutes. She’s carrying an ornate wooden box that she sets down gently, opening it and spreading the contents across the grass around her in silence. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chloe.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe turns in surprise to find Amenadiel standing too close, concern in his features. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just,” he pauses, sighing, “please be careful. I know you may not have seen Luci and I at our best, but, please know I don’t want him down in Hell any more than you do anymore.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He reaches out to take her hands gently, “but take care of yourself too. This is a dangerous plan, I do not wish to see you harmed and I fear what will become of Luci should he lose you this way. He needs you Chloe.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe squeezes Amenadiel’s hands, blinking against tears. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ll be quick and we’ll be careful Amenadiel, I promise. I’ll bring him back safe.”  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amenadiel brings her hands to his lips, a blessing, and Chloe’s throat goes tight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“‘Bout time,” Maze mutters. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They look around to find Aila approaching the center of the crossed path, a small tea tin in one hand and a metal spade in the other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The Lady Artemis resides as goddess of the crossways.” Aila explains as she starts to dig, “She is not as inclined to interact with humans directly as some, she generally prefers to work from afar, but she has been known to appear for offerings in such a place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, I used to get to do stuff like this before Lucifer banned us from going topside.” Maze says, a nostalgic smile on her face, “just to put a little fear of Hell into some people who wanted to play with demons. Lucifer only makes deals in person and never for souls, but it was always fun to watch them beg.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila ignores her, kneeling to bury the box, brushing the dirt over the top of it almost reverently. She stands, looking around, clearly a little unsure. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can make no guarantees she will come to us. She is not bound to heed the call nor are her conditions always the same. She may demand any number of things, but the price is always fair. You must be careful only to refer to her as the Wild Goddess or My Lady.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze’s face twists, “You’ve never spoken to Artemis? You have no way to contact her directly?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila shakes her head sadly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She spoke with my mother, just once, before I was born. I suppose I remember a sort of presence as a child but she did not speak with me. Everything I know of her I’ve learned in the temples, she is very proud and does not like being disrespected or having her time wasted.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, you’re basically useless here then,” Maze snaps.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila replies venomously, turning on her. “Why must you act like I am supposed to know everything? I’m trying to help you Mazikeen, but I already told you I don’t have all the answers!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe slips in between them, hands up. “Okay, okay. Just relax. We’ll figure it out. Amenadiel, do you have any ideas?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amenadiel is peering at the ground intently and it takes him a second before he answers. “No. This is not the workings of anything I’m familiar with. Though,” he tilts his head, “Something is here, there is a presence.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t like this place.” Aila suddenly says, sounding small. “It feels strange.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She steps back again and trips over a rock, falling to the ground. She makes to get up and aborts the motion halfway through, her hands slipping beneath her. Her body jerks once, hard, and then she roughly scrambles to her feet, her chest heaving.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aila?” Chloe calls out, taking a step forward. Amenadiel’s hand shoots out, holding her back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Something is not right.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila gasps and her entire body snaps ramrod straight, like she’s been electrocuted, her hands convulsing open and closed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she next speaks, it sounds as if 100 voices echo in her throat and it gives Chloe goosebumps.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is a mismatched crowd,” the voice says, condescension dripping in the tone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila, or whatever is possessing Aila, eyes them up and down and looks distinctly unimpressed. The blue of her eyes has bled away until it’s a soft lavender-grey. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze snarls audibly and Chloe lunges to hold her back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you the Wild Goddess?” Chloe chokes out, trying to remember what Aila said about addressing Artemis, her hands shaking. Maze shakes her off but doesn’t advance further.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila’s head turns strangely, like a questioning dog, and there is a painful sort of resistance visible there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe curtsies politely, if messily, pulling Maze down with her who growls under her breath the whole way. She peeks sideways at Amenadiel who she is thankful to see has inclined his head, hand to chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Artemis regards them all for a long, tense moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What business does a demon, an angel, and a human have with my daughter?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m a hunter...My Lady,” Maze grits out between her teeth, clearly hating the title. “I met Aila when tracking a bounty.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you hunt for money, without honor.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, Aila was starving on the streets when I met her. So where’s your honor?” Maze snaps back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A fierce blast of chilly wind whips past them and Aila’s body seems to glow with cool light. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ll watch your mouth when you speak to me, hellspawn.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You aren’t my goddess, and you aren’t my mother. I’ll talk to a mom who abandons her children like you have any way I like.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe elbows Maze sharply and hisses out of the corner of her mouth, “we need her to rescue Lucifer.” Mazes snarls but takes a step back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Our apologies, My Lady,” Chloe addresses, her hands held out between them. “We need your help. Please.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Artemis regards her cooly, and slowly the wind dies back down. She turns her head to Amenadiel, still carrying that strange resistance, like Aila is fighting the movement of her own body. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you, angelos? What is your purpose here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m escorting Chloe Decker and Mazikeen of the Lilim until the beginning of their journey.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There is an aura about you. There is a new child in your life?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amenadiel can’t help the smile that bursts over his face. “Yes, My Lady.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Artemis sniffs, “I didn’t think your celestials could conceive.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The mother is human and I was, mortal, for a short time. It was enough.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My blessings on you and for your family. Aila will know how to lay the protections on your home. Children are always to be celebrated.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Amenadiel says, sincerity ringing in his voice as he bows gracefully. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you.” Chloe echoes, and shoots a glance at Maze who mutters “Thanks” under her breath. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Artemis turns to Chloe, her eyes even more piercing than Aila’s. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There are many entrances into the underworld,” she speaks in her echoing voice. “Each will take you to Akheron and to Charon, the ferryman who will lead you across the Styx.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How did you know-” Chloe starts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aila shared your purpose for coming here and I can see the fallen angel’s mark on you, his Grace gathers in your aura.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe looks down at herself and feels silly when she can’t see anything. She wonders if she’s left a mark on Lucifer too and her mind flashes to Maze’s explanation of scents. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There is an elevator behind the Hall of Records on Temple St.” Artemis continues, drawing Chloe’s attention back to the conversation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re sending us to the old subway tunnels?” Maze asks. “But everyone knows about those.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Artemis shoots Maze a searing glance and Maze crosses her arms, annoyed, but silent once more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go beyond the iron gates and wait on the platform. A train will come to you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe shakes her head, “there are no working tracks down there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Artemis cracks Aila’s neck with a painful sound. “A train will come for you. Be sure to bring coin for Charon, there is no other way to cross the Styx. I recommend you seek Hades himself, he is a just creature and has a soft spot for your fallen angel. His lady is, well, shall we say that Persephone is not all she seems.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe’s hands are shaking so hard she’s sure she’s going to pass out. She’s not sure if it’s the adrenaline of having a tangible path back to Lucifer, or the sheer weight of being in the presence of such a being. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you M-My Lady,” Chloe stutters, struggling for the words. “What can we pay you in return for your help?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Artemis watches her for a long, tense moment and then runs her eyes over the group. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aila has already bartered for your path, the price is paid. Children and mothers are my charge to protect, you come to me out of love and I will honor that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But-” Chloe starts and snaps her mouth shut at Artemis’s raised hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Artemis turns her attention downward, running her hands over Aila’s bow and, if possible, the silver shine brightens. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Almost as if murmuring to herself, Artemis adds quietly, “be swift and safe my child. Daughters of the moon thrive in darkness, but we are not meant to be without light and that is what Haides is, an absence, void.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But what-” Maze starts, but it’s too late. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila’s entire body tightens again and then buckles. She slams to her knees and throws up noisily. She coughs and retches again, her whole body contorting with the movement, pained noises ripped from her body as she heaves. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe swears and throws herself forward, pulling Aila’s hair back from her face with gentle fingers. Aila tries to wave her off but Chloe refuses to move, crouching down next to her, and running one hand over her back soothingly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila retches until long after nothing is left, until the only thing coming out of her are long pained gasps as her body keeps involuntarily convulsing. When she can finally breathe again, she collapses forward and Chloe catches her, pulling her back from falling into her own pool of vomit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Possession is a nasty business,” Maze explains, sounding furious, “rough on the body. There is a reason Lucifer banned the demons from doing so. The hosts died more often than not.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aila,” Chloe says softly, trying to bring her back to focus. Aila’s eyes roll in her head and she mutters incoherently. “Aila, wake up, we need you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila blinks her eyes open slowly, sluggish, and suddenly pulls her hands up, like Chloe is going to hit her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aila it’s okay, I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Aila half rolls, half scrambles out of her arms, bruising them both in the process. She straightens quickly, but stiffly, obviously still in some pain, and fails to entirely compose her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, I’m fine,” she says shortly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’s obviously not, but Chloe isn’t her mom and she has bigger concerns. If Aila can get herself upright and says she’s fine, then she’s fine. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amenadiel breaks the awkward silence between them, “I suppose you’ll need a ride to Temple St. Do you know the way?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze and Aila both nod, shooting dark looks at each other. Chloe isn’t sure which is more likely to kill her, Hell, or the increasingly petty bitterness between Aila and Maze. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amenadiel sighs heavily and she thinks he might be thinking the same thing.   </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Luckily, of all the places in LA, the Hall of Records isn’t far from the park. Maze leads them through the shadows and alleys to the backside of the building. She heaves open the massive metal hatch there, hinges protesting loudly in the quiet of the morning hours and rust flaking into the pitch darkness it reveals. They all stare into the pit for a moment before Maze shrugs, and drops casually into the black without warning. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maze!” Chloe and Amenadiel shout at the same time. Chloe scrambles for her flashlight, shining it down into the hole. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The light catches the shine of two red animal eyes in the gloom and Chloe almost screams before she realizes the eyes belong to Maze. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Would you two relax? It’s not far, ground is solid. Let yourself down and then drop, you’ll be fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila meets their eyes and shrugs, following after Maze. They hear her feet hit the bottom and Chloe can tell Maze was right, it’s not far down. Chloe jumps next and they all get out of the way for Amenadiel. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The light from Chloe’s flashlight doesn’t quite reach the walls or ceiling, only illuminating a small circle in front of them. They stand in a large concrete tunnel, the far end completely blocked off by a large iron gate held fast with thick chains. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze gestures for Aila to go first, “this is your territory girl.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila shoots her another impossibly dirty look, but doesn’t argue. When they get to the gate, she examines the lock for only a moment before pulling the chains clean apart and kicking the gate open, the hinges here also protesting the movement with a scream. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The other side of the gate looks much the same as this side, except as they move through the tunnel, Chloe realizes there is a defunct train track now running beside them. Eventually, they reach a large open space that is clearly a platform of some kind. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So how do we catch this train?” Maze snaps impatiently, looking around unimpressed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gods above, have some patience Mazikeen!” Aila snaps back and Chloe tries to subtly step between them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aila,” Chloe asks, gently, kindly, “is there any chance your mom gave you any more information?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a brief moment, Aila looks sad, a lost child. “No, I’m sorry. She said to come to the platform and wait.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe doesn’t press, but she can hear Maze’s teeth grinding. Amenadiel seems content to stand peacefully, looking around with mild interest. She can’t decide if he’s oblivious to Aila and Maze’s tension or if he simply doesn’t care. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They stand in the pressing darkness of the platform, the only sound the skittering of small rodents in the dark and a distant rumble of traffic high above. Maze looks increasingly agitated by the second and eventually takes to pacing, Aila shooting her annoyed glances each time she passes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, Aila, Amenadiel, and Maze all freeze, their heads turning to look down the long tunnel.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is it?” Chloe asks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It does actually sound like a train,” Amenadiel says, sounding a little confused. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It takes another thirty seconds before Chloe too can hear the distant rattling, growing louder by the second, of an old subway car on rickety tracks. It squeals distressingly, the roar hurtling toward them at a speed that doesn’t seem right. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They take several hasty steps backwards and cover their faces as the train peels into the platform, breaking hard at the last second and throwing a shower of sparks on either side, like a car plowing through water. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The whole thing looks like a zombie horror movie waiting to happen. The train cars are utterly derelict, windows smashed here and there, paint peeling, lights flickering inside the cabins, a dingy old fluorescent blue. The doors open slowly with a screech of metal, rust flaking to the ground. The cars are all empty of people. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze doesn’t hesitate, starting forward, but Amenadiel grabs her by the arm and she growls, kicking out at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maze, just, Mazikeen would you stop!” he shouts, trying to dodge her kicks and hold on to her elbow at the same time. He fails, and she gets a good solid blow to his kidneys that makes him double over with an oof of surprise. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once she’s free, she seems to be mollified. “What do you want?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looks from her to Chloe to the derelict train and back, worry clear on his face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Be careful, </span>
  <em>
    <span>please</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, whatever,” Maze says, immediately making a beeline for the tracks, Aila a step behind her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amenadiel looks a little lost watching her leave, and Chloe hugs him, feeling like a small child in his arms. He looks a little happier when she pulls away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry so much, we’ll be fine, Maze has my back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It would hurt Linda greatly to lose her, please watch out Maze as well,” he says quietly, “I’m afraid it’s been a long time since she’s been in Hell. It’s changed, she’s changed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Decker!” Maze shouts from the car, banging the metal obnoxiously. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe shares a private smile with Amenadiel and takes off after Maze. When she crosses the threshold of the car, the temperature plummets, her breath coming out in a foggy mist. Maze looks miserable, but she’s already made herself comfy on the bench seats, one leg propped up as she looks out the window. Aila is standing in the middle of the car, looking around nervously, and tentatively takes hold of a pole to steady herself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The car jolts beneath them, the metal screaming somehow even louder from inside, and Chloe stumbles onto the bench opposite Maze before the train picks up speed. Amenadiel waves from the platform until he vanishes from sight as the train enters the tunnel once more. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The train rattles on for what feels like hours, weeks, months. Time loses all sense of meaning, the light never changing in the endless tunnel. Chloe goes through various stages of fear, grief, and anger, around and around. They try once to move to a different car, but find the doors are iced shut, even to Aila and Maze’s combined strength.0 </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Trixie’s face and Lucifer’s flash back and forth in her mind, her reason for being here in the first place and her absolute reason for returning alive. Panic feels like a live animal, clawing in her chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe paces back and forth, huddled in her jacket, trying to generate warmth. Aila seems uncomfortable, but she doesn’t shiver like Chloe does, hunched in on herself and dozing fitfully against the rattling glass window. Maze is deeply miserable, but she doesn’t appear to be shivering; in fact, where she sits seems to thaw slightly as if her constantly simmering rage produces an aura of heat around her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Time is different down here,” Maze mutters at some point, her eyes tracking Chloe’s pacing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What does that even mean!” Chloe snaps and then feels bad. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze watches her for another long moment, “Time moves slower down here. We could be on this train for weeks and it might still only be an hour or a day on the surface.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The rattling shriek of the car is starting to drive Chloe mad and Maze’s short, one sentence version of conversation will push her the rest of the way there. She turns to Aila, who is staring down at the silver bow in her hands, running her fingers reverently over the length of it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, who trained you to hunt?” Chloe asks, perching on the bench across from Aila.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila looks up and around like Chloe must be talking to someone else and then realizes with surprise Chloe is addressing her. Chloe gestures to the bow, trying to smile encouragingly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was an innate knowledge, developed from a small age, and time spent in the temples with my mother’s priestesses. I spent all of my time out of doors, constantly outgrowing my bows and making new ones myself. I learned through instinct and what little encouragement my human mother could give me.  The strength in me was like a siren call to dark creatures and we were often attacked when I was little. The monsters grew bigger as I did but still I succeeded every time. When I was seven, I went to serve as arktoi in Brauron, as all young maidens of Artemis do. This bow appeared to me during my time there and I knew then that I was almost ready. With the bow came much of the ancient knowledge I would need to hunt; what I know of the old magic and her darker creatures. There is much still to be learned though, it is a much different world from the last time I walked here. Some monsters have twisted, new ones crawled up from the depths of the world, not all creatures of my gods and goddesses. I must adapt as well if I am to survive.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That seems...lonely.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze snorts and Chloe shoots her a </span>
  <em>
    <span>shut up</span>
  </em>
  <span> look which only makes Maze roll her eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila shrugs, but she looks young and lost again. “Some say that for all their power, the gods are the loneliest of all. I suppose it isn’t surprising that those of us who serve them suffer a similar fate.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe catches the edge of something on Maze’s face, a brief flickering moment of sadness, of longing, but Maze turns her face to the window, ignoring them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Without warning, the train brakes so hard that Chloe is thrown to the floor. Aila shouts but manages to keep her seat and Maze grabs a rail with enough strength to bend it to the shape of her fingers, already trying to look out the windows past the shower of sparks lighting up the darkness surrounding them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The train lurches to a violent stop, the doors protesting once more as they drag open into a dim, twilight place. Maze practically bolts off and Chloe scrambles to get out of the car after her, her ears ringing painfully. They turn back to find Aila hesitating at the threshold, looking terrified. She steps one foot out, and then the other, sighing shakily as if she’s just been sentenced to die. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They are on another platform, this one grey and amorphous, just a flat smooth surface; the walls and ceiling, if there are any, obscured by a cloying fog. A faint light emanates from seemingly everywhere, but it does nothing to cut the gloom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The only sound is the quiet burbling of water nearby. Their breath comes out in clouds, still cold, and the fog makes Chloe feel damp and chilled to her bones. The ground is covered in a soft, grey dirt, almost like ash, but it feels slick and dangerous under Chloe’s boots. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila is muttering something under her breath, her hands moving like she’s brushing something away from her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Clock’s ticking,” Maze reminds them. “What’s next?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hekate guide us, give us courage and strength in darkness,” Aila replies, “we find Charon, the ferryman, and hope he will take us to Hades.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She turns and holds her bow aloft, where it emits a faint silvery light, and charges into the fog. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze waggles her eyebrows at Chloe, looking unexpectedly excited for the first time since Chloe came up with this whole idea. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You ready for one Hell of an adventure Decker?” she grins.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bad puns, at a time like this?” Chloe says, but she can feel herself smiling a little. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s what Lucifer would have said,” Maze says with a shrug and then takes off after Aila.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe steels herself, and follows them into the shadows. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe doesn’t know how long they’ve charged through the mist. Aila and Maze seem confident in where they are going, some scent or path Chloe can’t detect, but to her it’s all the same never-ending fog. Every once in a while, a huge rock formation looms suddenly out of the gloom with no warning, but Aila and Maze dodge with a hairsbreadth of space each time and Chloe just follows as carefully as she can. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Without warning, Maze and Aila skid to a stop, Aila throwing out an arm to stop Chloe. It’s like hitting a piece of rebar and Chloe lets out an ooph of surprise. They look around, Maze’s head tilting as she scents the air. The sound of water is closer now, but the sound is all wrong, like it’s coming from far below them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is it?” Chloe asks, watching Aila’s assessing face carefully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There is a stair down to the river, we must be careful not to miss it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A stair-” Chloe says taking a step forward at the same time that Aila screams, “No!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe’s foot meets nothing but air and she starts to fall forward, too shocked to scream. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Someone scrambles and manages to get a bruising grip on her arm, hauling her back and sending them both to the ground painfully. A cloud of the soft, clay soil puffs up around them on impact and she turns to find Maze looking furious and dusty. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the hell Decker? Didn’t I say to watch where you are going?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What were you thinking?” Aila barks, “there is a cliff face, can you not see it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe gets up slowly, a little angry, and brushes herself off, wincing at the scrapes on her palms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can?” she snaps back. “All I can see here is fog!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila suddenly looks a bit sheepish and a bit understanding. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My apologies Chloe, is that all you have been able to see this whole time?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Was there something to see?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila and Maze trade a significant look and then Aila shakes her head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, it is a barren landscape. However, for your safety, it would be better if we cleared your sight. I had forgotten that living mortals cannot see this realm without assistance.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She reaches towards Chloe’s face and Chloe jerks back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you doing?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila looks frustrated, like she’s talking to a toddler. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Clearing your sight, it will only take a second and will not harm you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe approaches her warily, leaning down a little so Aila can place a hand on each side of her face. Aila mutters something under her breath, her eyelids fluttering shut, and Chloe feels something like cool water drip down her face, closing her eyes on instinct. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila only holds her a second more and then drops her hands. When Chloe opens her eyes, it’s to find Aila swaying slightly, her now open eyes a clouded milky white. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aila?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila blinks several times, the white film over her eyes fading. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve given you some ability at othersight, just enough to see things true in this place. I feel I must warn you it may not all be pleasant”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe notices with a start that all the fog is indeed gone and they are standing far too close to the edge of a frighteningly tall cliff, obsidian rock slick and sharp, and she stumbles back from the edge. Everything is lit with that same dull light that seems to emanate from the very air, like a full moon night. The rushing of water below is suddenly louder and Chloe can now clearly see the black twisting snake of a river far below them, broken only by the white crest of water fighting itself. The only thing on the shoreline is a small wooden dock with a boat tied to the edge, a single lantern hanging from the bow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Found it!” Maze calls from a little down the way. Chloe hadn’t even noticed her walk away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze shows them a set of narrow, slippery looking stairs descending down the cliff face, no guard or hand rail in sight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe takes some comfort in the fact that Aila seems to hesitate too, but Maze throws herself down the steps with something like glee...for her anyway. For all her darkness, it’s weird to think of a place like this as home for Maze. Chloe always imagines her under the twisting lights of Lux, the sharp scent of bourbon, desperate people and cigarette smoke a halo around her, but maybe that’s just a new kind of Hell where Maze has built herself a home out of necessity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This here though, this is home base for her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila gestures for Chloe to go next and follows close behind, bow held aloft and casting a faint light down the stairs for them both.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe learns the hard way that the shiny black rock is as sharp as it looks. She keeps scraping her palms when she reaches out to balance herself on the cliff wall and yanking them back, narrowly avoiding stepping back off the edge on the other side. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze freezes suddenly and Chloe narrowly avoids running into her back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the- Maze?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze is looking at the top of the cliff above them, her lips pulled back in a snarl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have company.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila and Chloe immediately look up, but there doesn’t seem to be anything there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Listen,” Maze says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As before, Aila hears it before her, Chloe can hear her surprised intake of breath. It’s a few seconds before Chloe can hear it too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s like the skittering sound of small rodents over glass, but a hundredfold. The obsidian cliff face practically starts to hum with the sound. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh shit.” Chloe and Maze say at the same time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Run!” Aila screams, shoving at them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They make a madcap flight down the stairs, holding onto each other by hands and sleeves. The sound grows, and crests at the top of the cliff, and Chloe makes the mistake of looking up into a countless number of small, beady red eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe slips again and Maze manages to just catch her, bruises on bruises, her grip so tight it makes Chloe’s bones ache. Chloe scrapes her elbow brutally on the obsidian wall, tearing open her sleeve, but Maze and Aila tug and push her in turns to keep her going in the right direction. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There is a sharp twang and a flash of light from behind her so bright it leaves starbursts in her vision, followed by the high, keening shriek of dying rats. Chloe tries to turn to look but Maze yanks her brutally again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fucking MOVE IT DECKER.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>More sharp sounds from behind her, more flashes of silver light, more rats screaming. Aila is no longer shoving her from behind and Chloe’s brain puts 2 and 2 together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze leaps the last six steps, the skitter of nails so loud over them now it feels like she’ll never hear anything else again. Chloe slips and bumps down the last few, cutting open a knee and bashing her elbow once more. Aila comes up so fast behind her she practically throws Chloe back onto her feet, the forward momentum barely keeping them upright. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe feels like she has a knife in one of her lungs and still the sound of those nails on the glassy obsidian grows louder and louder, so all-consuming it just becomes a ringing in her ears. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe’s feet hit something solid and she goes flying, crashing painfully onto her front. She flips, scrambling back, a scream building in her throat when-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait!” Aila yells, stopping them all in their tracks. Her silver bow is in her hands, an arrow knocked, both so bright it makes Chloe’s eyes water. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It takes Chloe a second to realize the clatter of rodents has cut off, the absence of it almost as disorienting as the sound itself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila points at the rats who have halted in a semi-circle around what Chloe realizes is the wooden dock they had seen from the top of the stairs earlier. She can hear the rushing of the river behind them, but she can’t look away from the army of beady red eyes, seething like a living shadow across the plain and up the cliff face. They chitter quietly in waves.   </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look,” Aila says again, this time pointing at Chloe. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe looks down at herself and realizes she’s...glowing? It’s a faint gold glow, emanating from her skin and casting a bubble of light a few feet across, surrounding them. The rats sit at the edge of the bubble, expectant, and when Chloe shifts a few inches, they shift with her in perfect unison. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is going on?” she asks, her voice shaking as she turns her glowing hand over and over. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila looks her up and down carefully and then over to Maze, “how do your kind say, a miracle?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze winces, “yeah, kind of a touchy subject actually.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Chloe interrupts, lost. “What does that mean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now isn’t the time Chloe!” Maze snarls, “Get in the boat!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sure enough, they turn to find a beautiful, ornate gondola moored at the end of the dock with the lantern on the bow, only swaying a little despite the rough water parting around it. It’s empty, but Aila looks around warily.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Charon must be here somewhere,” she says, almost to herself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Charon is always here, my ladies.” a smooth voice replies, making them all jump. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sure enough, where the boat had been empty only a moment before, a tall, sallow man now stands. He’s wearing black pants and a grey linen tunic, his dark hair slicked back under a Greek fisherman’s hat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There is something distinctly not right about him, his skin hangs on his bones in a way that makes him look like he’s already decomposing, his mouth a black hole when he opens it again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Passage for the ladies?” He asks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe glances back, but the rats still wait, the mass of them boiling but not moving any closer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila steps forward, holding out a small drawstring bag that clinks as it moves. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have coin to cover our passage safely down the River.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Charon looks from the bag to Aila and then over Maze and Chloe, and for a brief, frightening second he looks furious, cheated. His eyes glide over the three of them several times. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Very well,” he gestures for them to step onto the boat, “safe passage for the ladies.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He snatches the coin bag from Aila before she steps on, pocketing the money with a furtive look as Chloe and Maze board as well, and gestures for them all to be seated on the narrow wooden benches of the boat. He unloops from the mooring and pushes out into the current. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once the river has them, it sweeps them along at a surprising speed but, though rapids churn around them, their ride is smooth. Chloe can barely make out the land on either side of them, but is reminded strongly of a lava tube she once hiked near the Grand Canyon, everything red-black, rough, and partially formed; like a place abandoned halfway through its creation. Every once in a while there are flashes of red or yellow in the darkness, eyes belonging to creatures she can’t identify. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She makes the mistake of looking down into the oily black water of the River and is transfixed. Just below the iridescent, roiling surface there are ghostly faces floating past, all with their mouths stretched wide, as if they are screaming. Without thinking, she reaches a hand toward the water, horrified by the sight but captured all the same. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do not touch the water,” Aila says, a hand on Chloe’s arm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe blinks the spell away, glancing at the water out of the corner of her eye in fear. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What was that?” she asks shakily. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s Maze who answers this time, “being down here weakens the connection of your soul to your body, the river is full of lost souls, those who didn’t get proper funerals or didn’t have coin for Charon. If you were to die here, you would join them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe shivers violently, wrapping her arms around herself and trying not to pay attention to the black water rushing past. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They fall into an uncomfortable silence. Charon hums faintly to himself as they go, but the tune is eerie and raises goosebumps on Chloe’s arms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After what feels like forever, Chloe can’t stand the silence or Charon’s creepy humming any more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aila, can you tell us more about Persephone?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila shoots a nervous look at Charon. ““When we are here, you must refer to the Lady as Despoina.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why do you people have so many fucking titles?” Maze grumbles, but Aila steadily ignores her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Despoina is not what the legends would have you believe. She was not kidnapped or coerced into darkness. She was Kore before she descended to the depths, and she chose her new name herself. It is only to be spoken by those who are initiated.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You seriously need to relax,” Maze says, lounging back in the boat. “Persephone is a tiny weirdo, nothing more.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span> Charon tsks quietly from the front of the boat and Aila practically waves her hands at Maze in distress. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Watch your language!” Aila hisses. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Charon croons back at them, “This demon has been playing with death a long, </span>
  <em>
    <span>long</span>
  </em>
  <span> time. Much longer than either of you. I remember when she was small, she jumped the river tributaries and threw rocks and severed limbs at me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila and Chloe’s heads swing around and Maze shrugs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? I told you all the little demons liked to sneak over here to play. I pushed a fair few in the river for you, didn’t I Charon?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Charon chuckles darkly, “That you did, Mazikeen, that you did.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze sits up suddenly like she’s had an idea. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is it?” Chloe asks, but Maze talks right past her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Charon. Any deliveries go through lately?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Charon’s head turns disturbingly far on his neck, “A few cases of wine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Any word from the demons on Lucifer?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Charon’s head turns back forward, “No. I leave the cases on the bank near the passages, they are not there when I return. The demons have been quiet as of late, no traffic along the river. No word of your master.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze looks frustrated, “What? You haven’t seen any demons at all? Usually they make a mess through the tunnels.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There is a rumor that the tunnels have been collapsed.” Charon offers with a shrug that makes his shoulder bones push disturbingly upward. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well someone is picking up the wine,” Chloe presses. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Charon shrugs again. “I am only a simple boatman, I do not know these things.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze scoffs, making the corner of Charon’s mouth pull up in a cracked, dark smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mazikeen has always seen more than she shows,” Charon says, something like delight in his voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze rolls her eyes, returning to her lazy lounge across the middle of the boat, her feet hanging out over the water. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So Lucifer hasn’t come to party with Hades?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “The master comes and goes often, but I have not seen the Lord of Hell in many ages. If he travels here, he does not come by the Rivers.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How much farther do we go?” Chloe asks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The final rapids of Akheron are around that bend,” Charon points ahead where the water is visibly rougher before it makes a sharp turn. “After that we follow Styx to the palace.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How long will that take?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Charon pins her with a look she can’t quite read but makes her shrink back all the same. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Time?” He grinds out, “You are beyond time. The River will let you go when she sees fit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze claps a hand on Chloe’s shoulder, “just relax. We get there when we get there, okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s rich coming from Maze, who is the most impatient person, human or otherwise, Chloe has ever known; Chloe knows she must look frustrated, can feel the jump of her own jaw. She looks to Aila for reassurance but Aila only shrugs, looking rather small and lost.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “You did well with the Nosoi,” Charon comments. “You may survive yet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The Nosoi?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze shrugs, but Aila twists her hands. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The Nosoi,” she says quietly, her eyes downturned, “are disease, filth, pestilence. The rats were one creature, an entity of great darkness said to lurk near the entrance to the Underworld.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The little demigod does speak.” Charon grins, his lips splitting horribly as he speaks. “She has wisdom!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila practically shrinks into herself, looking like she’s trying to melt into the floor of the boat. Chloe puts a hand on her knee and she jumps. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What else should we expect to find?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-I’m not sure,” Aila stutters.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, go on,” Charon outwardly laughs now, “You have Hekate about you. Shadows are your kin, your balance, little bright one.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila blushes furiously. “All the suffering of mankind: fear, hunger, pain, worry, grief, chaos and death, haunt these places.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“In recent times they get bored, they haunt new places,” Charon adds, “Penthos and Phobos wander the banks of the Cocytus. Thanatos is busy in the human realm and often travels with Hades, Eris and Polemos too are busy with the humans and their petty wars. The Erinyes hold court with Despoina.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila swallows hard, “guarding the palace is likely to be Cerberus-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh! That one I know, the giant dog?” Chloe says, excited to know anything at all. Maze snorts. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aila smiles just a little, “Yes, a giant hound with 3 heads. The harpies are likely to be there, perhaps Scylla.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Scylla is causing havoc in what the humans call the Drake Passage, you need not fear her this time.” Charon adds while deftly navigating a particularly rough bit of water that leaves Chloe clinging to the side of the boat with a white knuckled grip. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe is kind of starting to feel like she’s going to pass out. She’s not sure if it’s the sickly sweet smell coming off the water in a fine mist, or the occasional sharp tugs of the water pulling on the boat like grasping hands, or if it is sheer information overload. She doesn’t feel hungry, but she knows she probably needs food, a nap maybe. First aid for cuts and scrapes she sustained flying down the stairs, her elbow still bleeding sluggishly through the tear in her sleeve. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We are not far now.” Charon offers, his voice uncharacteristically soft and gentle. When she looks up, he’s peering down at her from the corner of his eye, something like understanding in his face. He looks sad, the skin drooping from his cheekbones, grey-blue bruises pronounced under his deep set eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe shivers and they all fall into uncomfortable silence. </span>
</p><p></p><div>
  <p> </p>
</div><div>
  <p> </p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Eleusinian Mysteries</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>
  <em>“No one should be scared of their mother, not Lucifer or Maze or Aila, and Chloe rages internally at a world and the gods who twist everything for themselves.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>I promise, our favorite Devil will be around in the next chapter. My apologies for the delay, I had a hard time with this chapter. Good news is, I have nearly everything after this finished! Thank you for hanging in there, I hope you enjoy and enjoy the new season premiere!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Errors are my own. Set directly at the end of Season 4, just after Lucifer departs.<br/>M Rating for later chapters, may change</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div>
  <p></p>
  <div class="resolved">
    <p> </p>
  </div>
</div><p>Chloe starts to nod off and loses track of time. They pass a tributary of the river, the water a sleepy grey-blue where it mixes with the oily black of the Styx. The water over rocks has the muted sound of a woman crying, burbling and grief-stricken, that makes tears well in Chloe’s eyes. Maze only continues to look grumpy, but Aila covers her head with her arms, resting her forehead on her knees while her shoulders shake, until they are well past. </p><p>They round a final sharp bend and suddenly the rocky tunnel opens completely, the banks on either side of the river now a dark, dense forest. If there is a ceiling to the cavern, it is lost to the shadows above them, the world nothing but a matte black backdrop. </p><p>Charon ties up smoothly and easily to another small wooden dock nestled into a break in the forest. As they disembark, Chloe can’t help but stand and stare up, the trees so close and pressing it feels like they are bending down to examine her. </p><p>“Asphodel Meadows,” Aila whispers with reverence. </p><p>“Which way, Charon?” Maze asks.</p><p>“Through the meadow, Mazikeen, and across the Fields. You know the way.”</p><p>“Is there no way around the Fields?” she snaps.</p><p>Charon grins. Chloe hopes she can someday wipe the memory of his black smile from her memory but sincerely doubts it. </p><p>“Why Mazikeen, are you afraid? Afraid you might belong there?”</p><p>In a movement so quick all Chloe sees in a blur, Maze has one of her knives under Charon’s throat. </p><p>“I’m not afraid of anything.”</p><p>“Mazikeen!” Aila snaps, a power in her voice that wasn’t there before. </p><p>The tension hums between them like a razor wire, taught and sharp, and Chloe is certain for a brief moment that their journey will end before it’s really begun.</p><p>But, something trembles minutely in Maze and the moment is broken. Maze holds her knife a moment longer, Charon grinning even more broadly as the tip digs into his skin, before she pulls back and pockets the weapon. Chloe notices the cut on his neck doesn’t bleed.</p><p>Charon tips his hat. “Safe travels, my ladies.”</p><p>“Thank you, Charon” Aila says, inclining her head, her bow pressed to her chest. </p><p>He unties the boat, but it stays perfectly still in the current. He watches them eerily with lamplight eyes. </p><p>“Good Luck” He finally says, and suddenly the boat is gliding away, his words only a whisper on the wind. </p><p>Chloe tugs on her hair in frustration, “That was terrifyingly cryptic. Couldn’t there just be, like, I don’t know. A field of flowers or something? Just one nice place? One not creepy person?”</p><p>Maze looks disgusted, Aila looks confused. </p><p>“There are flowers in the meadow, yes.”</p><p>Chloe resists the urge to laugh hysterically, just barely.</p><p>“Nevermind, it was just a joke. Into the creepy forest?”</p><p>Maze looks distinctly less excited than she did at the beginning of this trip, “yeah, into the creepy forest.”</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>The trees creak and sway, but there is no breeze, the air progressively thicker in their lungs. They follow a narrow dirt path, sometimes so close that bark and branches brush Chloe’s hair and clothes like reaching fingers, and she jerks back in alarm each time.</p><p>Silvery shades flicker on the corner of Chloe’s vision, drifting through the trees, but every time she turns to look, they gently fade from view. They are human in shape but only in a blurred kind of way, no other discernible features.  </p><p>Aila was at least right about the flowers, here and there are breaks in the oppressive trees that form perfectly circular meadows, flowers peeking through the gnarled, cracked roots of the trees and blanketing the open spaces, spidery and thin looking, their petals a silver gray that glints like metal in the darkness. None of the meadows intersect their path and Aila very carefully does not look at them when they pass. </p><p>Even if they wanted to stray from the path, which Chloe decidedly does not, wrapped around roots and trunks and creating dense, impassable walls on each side of them is a vine the width of Chloe’s leg, covered in long, sharp thorns. </p><p>Maze is angsty the whole time, her pace jagged and broken. She starts to lope along, rising to her toes like she’s going to run, then suddenly breaks off, dragging her feet. She keeps muttering under her breath incoherently. Aila plods along like a soldier, her pace measured and even, her eyes on the shadows of the forest around them and a white knuckle grip on her bow. </p><p>The branches rustle suddenly overhead and they all freeze. It takes a moment to distinguish them from the foliage, but in the canopy of the impossibly high trees, there are large shapes crouched on the branches. They are topped by women’s faces, hair wild and tangled, their bodies nothing more than a shapeless blob from this distance. </p><p>Chloe jumps when Aila’s hand lands on her arm. “Don’t stare. The Harpies are vicious, petty creatures,” she whispers. </p><p>One of the harpies lets out a scream like a hawk and stretches, huge beige wings spreading on either side of her. </p><p>“Oh shut up,” Maze mutters and all the Harpies rustle angrily.</p><p>The bird women watch them with cold, dark eyes, occasionally screeching or rustling angrily as they pass, but they do not come after them. They seem to be countless in number, more appearing from the gloom the more Chloe’s eyes adjust, all staring with deep, judging eyes. Chloe hunches her shoulders, feeling like razor talons are about to sink into her back any moment. </p><p>She’s so preoccupied with watching the Harpies out of the corner of her eye, and evidently so are Maze and Aila, that they miss the soft rustle in the undergrowth until it’s almost too late. </p><p>Something gold and massive leaps at Chloe, letting out an ear-splitting scream so human that she’s paralyzed by it.</p><p>No amount of adrenaline in her blood can make sense of the next few seconds. There’s a gold flash, followed by a ringing boom and a shove that sends her sprawling back painfully, immediately followed by a flash of silver so bright, Chloe is temporarily blinded.  </p><p>She curls on her side, hands over her ears, body wracked with pain. She thinks she might be screaming now too, but the whole world is reduced to a white, ringing surge that leaves her reeling. She reaches out, trying to press a hand into the earth, get a sense of what’s down at the very least, and is relieved when her fingers sink into soft, ashy dirt. She pushes another hand under her, scrambling, and finds solid earth there too, almost sobbing in relief when she can push her torso up. </p><p>There are still clashing sounds of a fight nearby, but it’s no longer right on top of her. Her ears are still ringing, but the white spots in her vision are starting to fade and she looks around desperately. </p><p>Maze and Aila are darting back and forth against a lunging beast. Chloe tilts her head one way, then the other, trying to make sense of the shape. Her first thought is lion but the shape is put together like a bad child’s drawing, a second smaller head of a goat protruding ridiculously from the back, the legs too long and slender, and the tail a bright, thrashing, acid green. She pushes herself to her feet, fighting a wave of dizziness, and pulls her gun. She can’t get a clean shot with Aila and Maze so close, but it makes her feel more in control anyway. </p><p>The creature seems to notice her movement, it’s large tawny head snapping around, followed by another horrible human scream from the goat. Maze says something that Chloe doesn’t quite catch but that she thinks might be a particularly ugly swear.</p><p>The creature lunges towards Chloe and this time she does see what happens, though the sound doesn’t hurt any less. When the animal is just one long bound away, the shimmering gold shield from the dock reappears, the creature crashing into it with a great, ringing gong before it’s thrown backwards. Chloe feels like her ears must be bleeding, but she grits her teeth and empties 5 shots into the body laying stunned on the ground without hesitation. </p><p>Distressingly, the creature seems unfazed by the bullets and is already shaking off it’s collision with the shield, heaving itself to its feet with a feral snarl. From this close, Chloe realizes the tail is a vicious looking snake, long fangs bared, and can’t help but marvel at how stupid the creature would look if it wasn’t chock full of sharp teeth. </p><p>“It’s a chimaera,” Aila calls, but Chloe can’t see where she is, “human weapons won’t harm it!”</p><p>Chloe swears if they make it through this, she’ll finally make time to brush up on her mythology. </p><p>“Duh,” Maze snaps aggressively, her knives spinning as the chimaera rounds on her. They circle like two jungle cats, Maze matching each snarl with gusto. The Chimaera lunges, Chloe just resisting the urge to call out in alarm as Maze dodges neatly, slashing up blade after blade. It’s a stalemate though, both of them fast and in close quarters; each time Maze dodges teeth and fangs, the snake comes around to snap at her, forcing them back into the circle.</p><p>Chloe’s heart is already in her throat when she hears another rustle from the wrong direction and her head shoots up in alarm. </p><p>Aila is crouched on a branch 10 ft up, surveying the scene below with hard, cold eyes. There is something feral about her that wasn’t there before, and Chloe feels goosebumps race across her own skin. Aila stands smoothly despite her precarious position and hauls back on her bow, now so bright Chloe can’t quite look directly at her. </p><p>Chloe isn’t quite sure what makes her think of it, but something in her gut tells her that the star-bright arrow will kill this creature, but it’ll kill Maze too. </p><p>“No!” she screams, lunging directly into the fray at the same moment the arrows looses. </p><p>Chloe crashes into Maze who screams in fury, both of them going down hard as the arrow finds its mark with the flash and power of a lightning bolt, too close and vividly painful, their yells drowned out in the scream of the Chimaera. </p><p> </p><p>*** </p><p> </p><p>Chloe wakes with a startled gasp, choking on ashy dirt, and sits up too quickly, her head pounding and the world spinning once more. She wonders idly how many brain cells she’ll have left after all these possible concussions  </p><p>“Chloe?” someone says, sounding far off. </p><p>Chloe blinks again, trying to steady herself, and Aila’s concerned face swims into view. </p><p>Chloe can’t help how she flinches back, but immediately realizes she’s made a mistake. This Aila is entirely different from the one in the tree, her eyes back to their bright blue and her face sad and drawn. She looks exhausted and there are remnants of a poorly cleaned bloody nose down her face and neck. </p><p>Aila backs up immediately at Chloe’s flinch. “I’m sorry,” she whispers. </p><p>“No, it’s..it’s okay,” Chloe says, “sorry. Just a little confused. Where’s Ma-Maze!”</p><p>She looks around too fast, sending the world spinning again. Saliva fills her mouth and she leans over, breathing heavily, willing her stomach to turn itself inside out or not as long as it decides one way or the other. </p><p>“She’s here, she’s okay.” Aila saids but she sounds sad, “she hasn’t woken up yet.”</p><p>“She’s not,” Chloe swallows hard, spitting into the dirt, “she hurt?”</p><p>“Not that I can see, I think she may just be stunned. It was...a lot of power.”</p><p>Chloe manages to sit upright, still clutching at her head. Maze is laid out next to her, eyes closed and looking strangely peaceful, but otherwise unharmed. </p><p>“What happened?”</p><p>Aila crouches down, resting her arms and her head on her knees, looking sad and guilty. </p><p>“I killed the Chimaera, but my bow is imbued with a different kind of energy than you and Maze possess. I believe you tried to shield Maze from the killing blow and the collision of power was overwhelming.”</p><p>Silence sinks around them. Chloe desperately wants to ask if Aila knew what she was doing, but she looks so miserable already that Chloe doesn’t have the heart. </p><p>Maze shifts slightly, but doesn’t wake. </p><p>“Thank you for keeping her safe,” Aila says quietly. </p><p>“It’s not your fault,” Chloe says. She’s not sure why, but she knows as soon as she says it she’s right. </p><p>Aila turns her face into her arms, her shoulders shaking.</p><p>“Aila?” Chloe asks, pulling herself along the ground a little, wanting to reach out. </p><p>Aila jerks back from her and Chloe can see her cheeks are streaked with tears. </p><p>“Aila?” Chloe asks again, gently. </p><p>Aila wipes roughly at her face. “I’m fine.”</p><p>“No you aren’t. Tell me what’s wrong.”</p><p>Aila sighs roughly, “My mother is a deep magic goddess. She walks into different places and imbues different magics. She is known by many names, so many, that to most she is many different goddesses. There are times when I’m seized by a...power, a name, that is both a stranger to me and utterly my own. It’s a deep, dark thing. It keeps me alive, but I fear the cost. The gods and goddesses do not count mortal lives as cost; yet I have been abandoned to live in the twilight of each, never part of the human world but without value in the immortal, destined to hunt those few who walk the twilight with me.”</p><p>Aila gestures to Maze laid out on the ground. “I looked at her and saw swirling darkness and rot. I forgot her name.” Her voice breaks at the end and she ducks her face into her arms again. </p><p>Chloe’s chest is tight. She drags herself up, inch by inch, the world slowly settling into place, and crosses to crouch in front of Aila.</p><p>“You’re afraid of them, aren’t you Aila? Afraid of your mother?”</p><p>Aila looks up at her in surprise and Chloe can practically see Trixie’s wide, frightened eyes behind her blue ones. It doesn’t matter now that Aila is millenia older or has powers or anything; for the moment, she’s a scared kid and Chloe is a mom. </p><p>She gathers Aila up in her arms as tightly as she can, curling over her and trying to put all the love into the gesture she can. Aila shakes in her arms, her shoulders hitching with quiet sobs. </p><p>No one should be scared of their mother, not Lucifer or Maze or Aila, and Chloe rages internally at a world and the gods who twist everything for themselves. </p><p>“Ugh, hugs? I’m going back to sleep.”</p><p>They both startle at Maze’s rough voice and turn to find her halfway sat up, a hand clutched to her head. </p><p>Aila let’s out a little sob of relief and Chloe can’t help her own relieved grin. </p><p>“C’mon Maze, you know you wanna join the group hug.”</p><p>Maze moans, stumbling to her feet. “That’s it, I’m leaving you here.”</p><p>“Whoa Maze, slow down,” Chloe says, helping Aila to her feet. </p><p>“Damn that shield is no joke, Decker. I could taste the angel grace on you.”</p><p>Truth be told, in all the rush, Chloe had forgotten about the incident at the dock and the bright golden shield that caused all this chaos in the first place, Aila’s whispered voice around the word ‘miracle’. </p><p>“I think it’s time for an explanation,” Chloe says, looking down at her hands with wonder.</p><p>“We don’t have time for-” Maze starts.</p><p>“An <em> explanation </em>,” Chloe says fiercely, staring Maze down. </p><p>Maze scowls, “Ugh. Fine”</p><p>Chloe turns to Aila who looks warily between them.</p><p>“You are,” Aila waves a hand, searching for the word. “Touched by God? Your God doesn’t interact with humans, no demigods, but I can see a spark of light in you.”</p><p>“Does this have to do with why Lucifer is vulnerable around me?” Chloe asks, turning on Maze. </p><p>Maze holds her hands up, “I mean, yeah probably, but I don’t know for sure. That’s a question for him, okay? I don’t really know what it means.”</p><p>“How long have you known?” Chloe asks, failing to mask the anger in her voice. </p><p>“A while I guess, but Lucifer didn’t want you to know. He was pretty freaked out, ran off with Candy Panties or whatever her name was.”</p><p>Chloe vividly remembers. Their sweet, soft moment; Lucifer vanishing into the night, returning with the most blonde, perfect woman he could find, a ring on her finger and his last name. Chloe left to sweep the shattered pieces of her heart off the floor, never understanding why or where it went wrong. </p><p>“He must have found out, before our date,” she mutters to herself, mentally throwing the clues up on a board. </p><p>He’d been so happy. A genuine, almost shy, happiness she had never seen in him before. The crack in his voice when he said they were real. </p><p>Then he finds out she’s touched by God and, what? Runs? She thinks back to the time he insisted to see her back, panic lacing the edges of his voice, thinking she was an angel sent to destroy him. </p><p>He’s spent eons running from his Father, from his Father’s influence. If she’s touched by God, does that mean God sent her to Lucifer? Or Lucifer to her? </p><p>What for? </p><p>Maybe she was sent to destroy him after all.</p><p>She doesn’t even notice that her knees have buckled until Aila carefully lowers her to the ground. </p><p>Maze crouches in front of her, snapping her fingers in Chloe’s face, “pull yourself together! Lucifer is over that now, okay? He has been for a long time. None of us really know what it means and it’ll drive you as mad as it did him to think about it.”</p><p>“Are you part of the big Plan?” Maze bites out sarcastically, throwing air quotes around the word ‘plan’. “Are you not part of the big Plan? Who cares!”</p><p>“H-how did you know?” Chloe finally gets out, looking up at Aila.</p><p>Aila taps her face, just under her eye. “I have Othersight.”</p><p>“Othersight?” Chloe asks.</p><p>“I can see beyond this realm. Planes where those lost reside, where magic is worked, where creatures hide in glamours and vessels. I can see the truth of people, the light or rot at their souls. I can read auras and occasionally I’m blessed with premonition. Blue eyes mark me as a magic user in our culture.”</p><p>Aila sighs, looping a hand around Chloe’s arm and helping her back to her feet. “It’s not always a welcome sign. I’m afraid I’m regarded with more suspicion than anything else, even in modern society. My apologies for revealing something that upset you.”</p><p>“No, no” Chloe half laughs, wiping at her face, “no. Thank you. I’m glad to know. It fills in a lot of missing pieces.”</p><p>“How did you know?” Chloe continues, rounding on Maze.</p><p>Maze has the decency to look a little ashamed. “Amenadiel was the angel who blessed your mother. He didn’t make the connection until he ran into you at her house. He told their mother, who told Lucifer.” </p><p>“Their mother?” Chloe asks, confused. Why does everyone keep mentioning his mother?</p><p>Maze waves her hands. “Nope. That’s a story for another time. Lucifer can deal with that one if we ever find him.”</p><p>Chloe figures it’s at least more information than she expected, she should probably be grateful. This is the second time someone has mentioned Lucifer’s mother though and she’s not going to let it go the third. </p><p>“Your power will keep away lesser demons and creatures here, but it poses no issue for those with more power. Indeed, it might even attract them.” Aila explains. </p><p>Maze pinches Chloe hard without warning and she jerks away. </p><p>“Ow! Maze, what the fuck?”</p><p>“See,” Maze says with a grin, “there are plenty of us who could still hurt you just fine.”</p><p>Chloe rubs at her arm, “yeah, point made.”</p><p>“Great. Can we get out of this creepy ass forest now?”</p><p>“Like the rest of this place is any less creepy?” Chloe asks sarcastically.</p><p>“Hell is my creepy turf, this place is just weird.”</p><p>Chloe can’t argue with that logic and Aila seems blank and resigned once more, merely shrugging as Maze takes off and turning to follow. </p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>After the Chimaera, every rustle and shush of the forest makes Chloe jump, but they make it through in almost boring silence. One moment they are stuck in the thick shadowed trees and sharp thorns and the next they are standing on the edge of an endless field, silvery grass rippling without a breeze. Wandering randomly through the waist high grass are people, but they look grey and thin, staring up into space blankly as they stumble along. On the far edge of the field, so distant it’s just an indistinct shape, is something rocky and pointed, hewn directly from stone. </p><p>Where Maze had been charging ahead of their group this whole time, here Maze freezes, her hands flexing by her sides like she wishes she had her blade. Chloe puts a hand on her shoulder, and Maze’s head snaps to look at it and then up at her. </p><p>“We’ll be okay.” Chloe says. </p><p>Maze’s face flicks through emotions faster than Chloe can follow.</p><p>“I’m not afraid,” she finally replies, but she sounds like she’s trying to convince herself. It scares Chloe more than anything they’ve faced so far. . </p><p>Aila comes up on Maze’s other side, she’s looking out over the field, but there is a soft silvery light emanating from her. When she turns to speak, her eyes have gone a startlingly dark, cobalt blue. </p><p>“He was wrong Mazikeen. You don’t belong here.”</p><p>Maze doesn’t reply, but Chloe can feel her relax under her grip. </p><p>“You first,” Maze says, gesturing at Aila. </p><p>For the first time, Aila walks with confidence, her shoulders back and chin held high. She steps into the grass without hesitating and starts off, the sea of silver parting easily around her where Chloe and Maze follow. None of the people in the field look their way. </p><p>The shape in the distance slowly becomes clearer, dark windows materializing in the walls and some semblance of the shape of a castle appearing like a hidden picture. However, it still looks rough and unfinished, like a child’s creation molded from clay without any finesse. </p><p>“What is this place?” Chloe asks over Aila’s shoulder. </p><p>Aila glances back, “The Fields are where lost hearts wander. Those who wasted away pining after what couldn’t be theirs.”</p><p>Chloe suddenly understands Maze’s hesitation to enter this place. She pictures Eve’s wild hair and bright eyes and Maze’s crushed face; the memory of the cold balcony under her own knees the night Lucifer left. They could both easily be pale, thin souls wandering this field and staring into a sky that doesn’t exist. </p><p>Chloe feels suddenly bone deep, achingly tired. She stumbles, unable to keep her feet under her, but Maze catches her under the elbow and hauls her forward. </p><p>“Don’t fall on me now, Decker.” Maze says, her voice uncharacteristically soft.</p><p>Chloe nods, determinedly dragging her feet along even after Maze lets go. </p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>Chloe isn’t sure how long she plods along, nearly falling asleep on her feet, when suddenly it seems like the castle has jumped to them. Time and space are distorted and patchy here, or perhaps it’s just for her, mortal and out of place. She wonders idly how long it’s been since she’s eaten or slept, but the concern slides between her fingers before it can become a coherent thought, all the world syrupy and vague. </p><p>The castle looms above them, impossibly tall, chipped from the same obsidian as the cliff face at their entrance, every edge a wickedly sharp curve, glinting in the dim light of that place. There doesn’t appear to be a door, instead just a roughly cut archway big enough a cruise ship could pass through.</p><p>Maze starts forward, but Aila shoots out a hand to stop her. </p><p>“Wait. Cerberus.”</p><p>As if summoned by his name, like every other dog on the planet, a snuffling emanates from the pitch black of the archway. A dog’s head the size of a house emerges, quickly followed by a second and third, as Cerberus rises to his full height, filling the length and breadth of the archway. </p><p>To Chloe’s surprise, or perhaps it should have been obvious, He looks like...a normal dog. Monstrously huge, and three heads on one body, but his coloring is the rich, black-brown and tan of a rottweiler and his tongue lolls out of all three mouths in curiosity.</p><p>Chloe is so immersed in watching the marvel before her, she almost has a heart attack when Mazikeen shrieks in the worst kind of baby voice. </p><p>“WHO’S A GOOD BOY CERBIE?” </p><p>Cerberus ticks his heads one way, and then the other, a slight delay between them making it look like a wave, and then suddenly crouches. Maze launches herself forward without hesitation and the two meet halfway and when her heart starts beating again, Chloe realizes that Cerberus is playing. </p><p>He ducks and jumps with Maze as she flits around him, her bright laughter and his echoing barks creating a sudden cacophony that feels jarring and out of place in the pressing cavern. Aila is looking around nervously, as if she expects someone to come out and yell at them for the noise. </p><p>“Maze!” Chloe hisses, wanting to get her attention but decidedly not wanting to get the attention of the hound. It fails miserably, three alert heads snapping around to find the source of the noise and Maze looks almost...disappointed. </p><p>Cerberus leans in, something like a growl starting deep in his chest of the middle head, but before it can make itself known, his other heads sniffs at Chloe and Aila and he seems appeased, his razor sharp grin ticking back up across the plane of all three faces. One noses at Aila who shies under the touch, but Chloe thinks she might be smiling.  </p><p>The castle beyond Cerberus’s towering form continues into the dark as a massive, obsidian-chipped hall, the floor a soft, deep red soil. Torches line the wall but it does little to cut the gloom, only highlighting the dizzying organic swirl of the walls. </p><p>Cerberus steps aside for them, but he whines pathetically as they go and Chloe can’t help but notice Maze’s heavy sigh. </p><p>“I didn’t take you for a dog person,” Chloe says, trying to lighten the mood. </p><p>Maze looks up, a little startled, and seems to catch herself, shrugging. “Not really. We played sometimes, on the banks of the rivers when I was young.”</p><p>Maze pointedly picks up her pace, effectively cutting off any further conversation. </p><p>The tunnel works in the same distorted way as the landscape, endless and shapeless for what feels like hours, and then, with no warning, they are standing before a pair of massive, carved wooden doors. Maze pushes without hesitation and they swing open smoothly.</p><p>They find themselves in what can only be called a throne room. </p><p>It’s a large, circular chamber, empty except for where a woman lounges on a strange throne, chipped directly from what must have been an awe-inspiring stalactite. The stone extends upwards as a narrow set of stairs, ending in the imposing, high-backed chair. Torches line the walls, casting jumping shadows across the steps of the throne as though creatures are dancing there. </p><p>The woman is resplendent, loose-limbed and graceful, stretched sideways in the throne with her legs over one arm and her head leaned back over the other. She sits up at their entrance, looking intrigued. She clutches ripped chunks of pomegranate in each hand and empty pomegranate shells litter the steps below her. She lets the pieces in her hands drop and roll down the stairs with hollow thuds. </p><p>Her face when she first stands to face them is hollow, wary, but after only a moment, she lights up like the sun. This must be Persephone, but Chloe is reminded strongly of Eve, a thought that makes her suddenly anxious. </p><p>Persephone practically flies down the steps, her breath heaving as she reaches the bottom. Chloe can see her clearly now, dressed all in a rich red linen, so thin it’s almost transparent, belted in gold at her waist. She’s unbelievably tiny, but curvy, her hips and cleavage testing the edges of the haphazardly draped toga. She wears a hammered gold crown and clattering gold bangles on her ankles and wrists. Her curly hair is piled in a nest on her head, the same soft dark brown as her eyes, darker against the honey gold of her skin. She is barefoot, her feet red with the strange soil of her home. </p><p>Persephone says something breathlessly in a language Chloe doesn’t understand, her smile and arms extended. The welcoming look is ruined by the wine red stains on her hands and around her mouth and down her neck, giving her a sinister air and making her perfect, white teeth seem somehow sharper, too much. </p><p>Aila drops to her knees, replying in the same language which Chloe guesses now must be Greek. Chloe follows less gracefully a moment after and Maze finally follows after a long awkward pause. </p><p>Persephone draws Aila back to her feet by a hand under her chin. Chloe and Maze slowly rise as well. Persephone and Aila converse in Greek a moment more, Persephone by turns sounding intrigued, delighted, furious, wary, and back to delighted, her moods all consuming and ever-changing.</p><p>She abruptly turns to Chloe and being under her direct attention feels immediately like being an ant under a magnifying glass in the middle of a sunny day. </p><p>“Welcome, Chloe.” Persephone says in perfect English, her voice soft. </p><p>“Thank you Per-Despoina,” Chloe says, catching herself at the last second but Persephone doesn’t seem to notice. </p><p>Persephone embraces Chloe unexpectedly, her head barely coming to Chloe’s chest and Chloe freezes in her grip. She smells of flowers and honey, almost sickly sweet, cloying and decayed underneath, her skin hot and clammy to the touch. Chloe has to resist the urge to jerk away.</p><p>She finally lets Chloe go and Chloe tries to subtly lean away to suck in fresh air. Persephone embraces Aila next, who also looks uncomfortable and stiff in the embrace. </p><p>“A moon child,” Persephone sighs, “a rare one. Hekate has not graced our realm in far too long.”</p><p>Aila looks more awkward than ever. “There are many monsters to hunt on Earth, My Lady, and she is increasingly called after by those who practice Craft. Some of the old ways still live on.”</p><p>Persephone nods thoughtfully, “Yes, of course. I understand. I too have felt the pull as of late, the rush is nice after so long gathering dust.”</p><p>Persephone turns to Maze and something subtle falls in her face. </p><p>“Mazikeen,” Persephone finally says, her voice blank.</p><p>“‘Sup Percy,” Maze drawls and Aila’s head whips around in horror. </p><p>“Do you two, know each other?” Chloe asks carefully.</p><p>The storm cloud on Persephone’s brow disappears as quickly as it came.</p><p>“In a manner of speaking,” Persephone says, a laugh tucked into her voice, “Lucifer and I have been close in times long gone. Mazikeen and I have had our fair share of fun, haven’t we love?”</p><p>Maze’s face is strangely all sour lemons, “yeah, I guess.”</p><p>“That would have been nice to know before,” Chloe hisses under her breath and Maze rolls her eyes. Aila looks like she’s going to be sick. </p><p>“Welcome to my realm, friends,” Persephone’s voice is different now, regal and dark. “May I ask what brings you to our deep home?”</p><p>“Where’s Hades?” Maze says without pretense and Aila makes a quiet, distressed noise. </p><p>Persephone’s face contorts for the barest second and then smoothes again. Her mood swings are making Chloe feel jumpy and anxious. It’s obvious Maze is poking a hornet’s nest, why can’t she see that?  </p><p>“He is away on task. Hades also is increasingly invoked by the Craft. Often he accompanies Thanatos on his never ending work as well.”</p><p>“Has Lucifer been by?”</p><p>Persephone looks innocently surprised, but there is something false about it Chloe can’t quite put her finger on. “He’s back? I thought that he was taking rather an extended vacation amongst the humans?”</p><p>As she says humans, her eyes slide over Chloe as if she’s examining a piece of meat in the butcher’s window; hungry but without curiosity. </p><p>“Yes, he returned to Hell recently.”</p><p>Persephone looks Maze up and down and a decidedly dark smile blooms over her face, “and he did not take you with him?”</p><p>“He returned to protect his home on Earth, his friends,” Chloe cuts in, before Maze can say something terrible. As it is, Chloe can see Maze’s entire frame is still trembling slightly with rage. “We would like him to come home, but he’s sealed the gates.”</p><p>Persephone’s glee dims a fraction. “Ah, I see.”</p><p>Her attention turns on Aila, who stands straight and tall, but trembles too. </p><p>“And what are you here for, moon child?” Persephone asks. </p><p>“They seek safe passage through the Underworld from Lady Artemis. I am merely a conduit my lady. She instructed us to seek guidance with Lord Hades.”</p><p>“As I said, he is not here.”</p><p>“Yeah, we got that,” Maze snaps, “we just need to get to the tunnels and we’ll get out of your hair, okay?”</p><p>When Persephone turns on Maze, the change in the air is immediate, the temperature plummeting around them. Chloe is hit with such a wave of vertigo, she has to lean over to grab her knees to stay relatively upright. </p><p>Persephone says nothing, but neither does Mazikeen, and the standoff is generating a sound in Chloe’s ears like tv static, louder and louder and <em> louder… </em></p><p>“Well,” Persephone suddenly says in a bright cheerful voice and Chloe’s stomach rocks back the other way, bile rising to the back of her throat and saliva filling her mouth, “that’s easy enough. The demons have been unusually quiet as of late and I’m curious, I will take you myself.”</p><p>“That’s not necessary-” Maze starts, sounding a little more alarmed than Chloe cares for.</p><p>“Nonsense,” Persephone continues in a sweet voice. “We will not be bothered on our way and I can see that time is of the essence, your human is already weakening.” </p><p>Maze shoots a panicked look at Chloe who tries really hard to look like she’s not about to collapse. She smiles half-heartedly and Maze scowls back. </p><p>“Fine.” Maze snaps, “can we leave now.” It doesn’t sound like a question.</p><p>Persephone tsks slightly, “rest, Mazikeen. Allow us to tend to your wounds and gather your strength, just for a few hours. I will be ready then.”</p><p>Maze looks back at them, conflict in her features. Aila shrugs, seemingly resigned, and Chloe mirrors the movement. What else can they do? </p><p>“Fine. A few hours.” </p><p>Persephone’s smile is warm as she gestures them in, but the air is still icy around them.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>Persephone leads them further into the castle, where eventually the impossibly large tunnel begins to narrow into something resembling normal corridors. Chloe’s sense of direction is utterly shot, the closing walls and the flickering, torchlit gloom of the place making it impossible to tell what direction they are heading or whether it’s up or down. She has to fight fresh waves of vertigo every time she closes her eyes. </p><p>Persephone gives them over to the care of several pale handmaidens who usher them into a sort of mismatched sitting room, partially carved from the stone of the building and layered in cushions and woven fabrics in jeweled colors. Maze immediately throws herself down on a plush red velvet couch that looks oddly out of place, elbow over her eyes, Aila perched tentatively at her feet. Chloe sinks gratefully onto a cushion on the floor in front of them, wondering if it would be rude to pull her boots off right there and massage her feet. </p><p>Just as she starts in on the laces, the handmaidens return, wordlessly filling the low table in the middle with several wash pitchers, matching bowls, strips of soft linen cloth, and finally, a tray of the most beautiful fruit Chloe has ever seen in her life. Each piece has a color so rich it almost seems unreal, the skin of each berry shiny and beaded with water; the green pears so crisp and cool she can taste them; the oranges glossy and fat with juice.</p><p>She reaches out instantly and is surprised when Aila stops her hand.</p><p>“That would...not be a good idea here.” Aila says quietly, looking up at the handmaidens with something a little like anger. </p><p>The handmaidens only give a small shrug and exit on silent feet, leaving the tempting tray behind. </p><p>“Sorry, why-?” Chloe starts, and then remembers, “Oh. Pomegranate seeds.”</p><p>“Haven’t you ever learned not to eat candy from strangers?” Maze mumbles, face still half covered. </p><p>Chloe bristles, opening her mouth to snap back, but thinks better of it. Maybe Maze is being immature, maybe this whole place is messing with them; maybe it’s just exhaustion, but if there is one thing being a mom has taught her, it’s how to step back and not engage. </p><p>She stands abruptly, grabbing one of the pitches and some cloths and wandering to the far edges of the vast sitting room where a cavernous opening appears to let out onto a balcony. </p><p>She passes the time there, sinking directly onto the rocky floor and washing the worst of her scratches, binding the cut on her elbow with a length of cloth and trying to cram down several utterly tasteless, smashed protein bars from the bottom of her backpack with some lukewarm water. The view outside is disorienting, the silver of the fields a sharp line against the dark trees, no sky or ceiling or horizon, just everything fading out into the grey twilight that makes up the edges of that place, so she tries to focus on her own body. </p><p>“Hello,” a quiet, warm voice says behind her, startling her terribly. </p><p>Chloe shoots to her feet, knees cracking, to find Persephone standing a few paces back and her heart kicks into overdrive without her permission. </p><p>But, comfortingly and disturbingly, this is yet again a different Persephone than before. Cleaned of her pomegranate gore and dressed in simple, thick, creamy linen, belted in gold, she seems somehow warm and soft. She still wears the hammered gold crown and her gold jewelry, chiming softly as she moves, highlighting the rich brown of her hair and eyes. </p><p>She looks...kind. Understanding. So different from the wild, cold power she displayed in the throne room. Even her scent has changed, still overwhelming but less cloying, like stepping into a field of wildflowers. </p><p>Chloe’s previous fear for her melts. Perhaps not all her uncertainty, but the fear at least is gone. She thinks of Lucifer, how bright and cold he could be in one moment and golden warm and smiling the next, and wonders if that’s just part of these places. A goddess of spring and an angel of light, adapting personas to live and rule empty, dead lands. </p><p>As if reading her thoughts, Persephone smiles shyly and ducks her head. </p><p>“My apologies, Chloe, for frightening you earlier.”</p><p>“Uh, it’s no problem,” Chloe stammers out. </p><p>Persephone inclines her head politely in acknowledgement. “May I join you out here for a moment? I would like to speak with you before we depart.” </p><p>Chloe nods shakily. </p><p>She steps to Chloe’s side, looking out across the view. “You are brave to come here.”</p><p>Chloe swallows hard, “it, uh, wasn’t my first choice but it’s for someone I lo-someone important.”</p><p>Persephone’s eyes slant across to consider her. “Ah,” she finally says, warm delight in her tone, “Lucifer has found true love then?”</p><p>Chloe ducks her head, blushing, and startles when Persephone gathers her hands in her own, the touch hot. </p><p>“Don’t be shy,” she gives Chloe’s hands a tight squeeze, “I’m pleased. He’s been lonely a long time. The demons are no kind of company. Even Mazikeen is a hollow creature. He’s needed you.”</p><p>“Maze has grown,” Chloe says, but still she has to fight a smile. </p><p>“Perhaps,” Persephone says, with an answering grin, “but she will never be human. He needs your light. He spent a lot of time here ages past, with Hades and I, but despite our company he was ever so lonely. Hades and I had each other, and we had our tasks on the surface that allowed us some semblance of freedom, but poor Lucifer was like a dog locked in a cage, biting at everything around him and then himself when there was nothing in reach. It was hard to watch.”</p><p>Chloe curses the tears that spring to her eyes at the sound of his name, Persephone’s words recalling the stricken look on his face the night he left. </p><p>Persephone wipes gently at her cheek, “I’m sorry, I did not mean to upset you.”</p><p>“No, I-” Chloe chokes out, pulling her hands from Persephone’s grip to wipe frantically at her face. “I’m glad to know more about him, he doesn’t talk about his past much. I just...miss him.”</p><p>Persephone’s smile infuses her face, “and you will get him back. Such a brave soul to come all this way.”</p><p>“Thank you,” is all Chloe can think to say, her voice hoarse. </p><p>Persephone presses a length of clean linen into her hands that seems to appear from nowhere, “gather yourself and meet us in the hall, I will gather Mazikeen and Aila.” </p><p>*** </p><p>They exit the palace at a swift pace, Persephone in the lead. Cerberus sits with his head on his paws and whines pathetically as they leave and Chloe could swear that Maze almost looks sad about it, trailing a hand down his massive snout as she passes. </p><p>They journey out a different direction than they came, parallel to the endless, creeping forest. The landscape looks much the same to Chloe but Persephone and Maze move with confidence. Aila keeps up her steady, blank-faced march and Chloe finds it increasingly depressing to watch so she lets her mind wander. </p><p>Chloe has played Dungeons &amp; Dragons exactly once in her life, a brief fling with a sweet nerdy boyfriend she met after she quit acting, seeking a personality as far from the vain, self-absorbed peacocks of Hollywood as possible. </p><p>Traversing through this barren landscape with a goddess, a demon, a demigod, fleeing through the dark, seems somehow less panic inducing when she pretends it is a game. Maze would be one of those players who challenges everything and consistently rolls either outrageously high or low, never in between. Aila would be a quiet healer, a go with the flow type who looks before she leaps but is insightful and takes surprising but calculated risks. Persephone is their DM, guiding and hiding by turns, power and knowledge at her fingertips that Chloe can’t even begin to fathom. </p><p>It’s comforting to make their wild, madcap dash seem so mundane. </p><p>But even those thoughts eventually lead down a dangerous path, anxiety rattling around her chest. The thought of men in her life is a slippery slope to comparing them, and she knows where Lucifer falls on a scale of nerdy DND boyfriend and Hollywood peacock. </p><p>The memory of shouting at Lucifer, “you ego maniacal narcissist!” jumps to the front of her mind and she very nearly stumbles to a halt at the thought. But, almost as soon as it comes, a different vision takes its place. </p><p>She thinks of Lucifer’s soft, genuine smile. The way he always turns to her as though she has all the answers. She thinks of the bright light of him, of his broad white wings, trapped in this place, dimmed in ash, and her steps grow stronger, nearly breaking into a run. He feels so close now, impossibly close, the sheer force of what she’s done to get here, flooding her with adrenaline. </p><p>Maze must notice her change in pace because she turns to Chloe with a grin, her entire body tensed with anticipation. </p><p>For all her chaos, Chloe is breathtakingly glad that Maze is the one by her side in this moment. </p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>The landscape shifts subtly and eventually they come to the banks of a sluggish river, the water bubbling thick and white, and turn to follow the banks of it. </p><p>Chloe finds herself drifting in and out, almost falling asleep on her feet. The river smells of cloves and milk and honey, a soothing, sleepy aroma that wraps itself around Chloe’s head like a physical presence and sits heavily in her chest. </p><p>She startles terribly when someone grabs her hand and her head snaps back into focus. Aila is holding her hand tightly, but looking determinedly ahead, her jaw clenched. Chloe realizes with a chill how close she had come to the edge of the thick, sweet water and that in her time drifting, the edgeless horizon of their landscape has suddenly closed in, the world growing smaller, and tighter, and more roughly carved until they are in a broad tunnel. </p><p>At the mouth of the tunnel, the water of the river abruptly turns a syrupy black, the smell sharp and brimstone bitter now. The black of the cavern is absolute, the vague dim light of the Underworld failing just a few feet into the mouth. </p><p>“Wait here,” Maze says, loping into the darkness. Chloe nearly shouts for her to stop, but Persephone and Aila seem unfazed, so Chloe tries to wrestle down the bolt of fear at watching Maze disappear. </p><p>She doesn’t realize she was holding her breath until a light flares in the darkness and Maze returns with a lit torch, two more clutched under her arm. </p><p>“Perse, has there been a delivery lately? Charon said he hasn’t seen any demons and these are old.”</p><p>Persephone looks concerned, “I do not think so. I did not even know Lucifer had returned. There was a rumor that some of the tunnels had been collapsed, but I have not been to investigate. The tunnels have been quiet otherwise, which is not unusual since you both departed.”</p><p>Maze peers back down the tunnel while Aila and Chloe light the other two torches, “well, this one looks okay. The air tastes right, I can feel it moving.”</p><p>Persephone nods in agreement, “yes, the river is flowing unimpeded, it should be open.”</p><p>Maze takes the lead this time. The world is narrowed to the shapeless dark, their little circle of light seeming small and lost with no reference for the landscape around them. Maze’s movement in the torchlight takes on an unnerving, nightmare quality, twisted and sliding by turns, so that sometimes Chloe can’t tell which is Maze and which is Maze’s shadow. </p><p>Maze and Persephone move with eerie silence, further disorienting the sound in the tunnel, too many people and not enough feet, not enough breath. The river continues to burble in the dark alongside them, the splashes and bubbling filling the silence with imagined whispering voices and breathy hissing. </p><p>Chloe nearly drops her torch in alarm when the tense silence is shattered by Aila abruptly dropping her own torch and vomiting roughly. </p><p>Chloe puts a hand on her back, rubbing soothingly. </p><p>“What’s wrong with her?” Maze says, from a little ahead. </p><p>“I’m not sure,” Chloe replies, unable to hide the concern in her voice. </p><p>“I’m fi-” Aila tries to say, but her body heaves again and she grabs her knees trying to stay upright. </p><p>“Oh dear,” Persephone says, suddenly standing right in front of them. </p><p>The torchlight catches her wrong and for a brief heartbeat moment, her eyes nothing but black pits over a black mouth, but then the flame shifts and the warmth of her is as before, the gold of the fire suffusing her skin. </p><p>“I was worried this might happen,” she continues, pressing a hand to Aila’s forehead as she sucks in breaths between dry heaves. “A moon child can’t travel here. It’s too far into the deep places for her. I feel the sickness too, but as I draw power from above and below, I can resist. Aila has no such defenses.” </p><p>Maze groans, coming back their way. “So what now?”</p><p>“Do not fear, I shall care for your friend. The path should be clear from here Mazikeen, and once you are in Hell I suspect you’ll know your way. I will take Aila back to the palace and see her to the surface if you do not return this way.”</p><p>Aila’s face shoots up, locking eyes with Chloe, half-frightened and half-determined, her lips almost blue in the light. </p><p>Chloe hesitates,” Could I….um...speak with Aila alone for a moment? Please?” She tacks on the end with a rough, half-thought out curtsey. </p><p>She tenses against Persephone’s possible reaction, but Persephone merely nods. </p><p>“Of course, Mazikeen and I will scout ahead to be sure it is clear.”</p><p>Persephone picks up Aila’s dropped torch and relights it from Maze’s. Chloe helps Aila to sit carefully on the floor away from where she was sick and waits until she can no longer see the flicker of light ahead of them in the tunnel before she speaks </p><p>“Aila, I won’t let her take you if you don’t want to go.”</p><p>Aila shakes her head once and them squeezes her eyes shut, clearly regretting the movement. </p><p>“It will be okay Chloe. She’s right, I feel empty here, dark,” she clutches at her chest as she says the words, “I cannot go on. But I will not stop you from saving one you love.”</p><p>“Let me worry about that, I’m not going to abandon one of you for the other.”</p><p>Aila squeezes her hands and smiles half-heartedly, “truly, it will be okay. I have fear, but fear will not stop me. I am a daughter of Hekate as much as Artemis, I have power just as Persephone does, perhaps it’s time to remind her there is a dark side to the moon as well.”</p><p>Chloe feels like her whole chest is in a vice, but she can’t deny she’s proud of Aila. </p><p>“We’re going to come back for you, as soon as possible. You show her who is boss until then, okay?”</p><p>“Okay.” Aila whispers back. </p><p>Chloe presses a kiss to her forehead, a maternal instinct, but one that makes Aila sigh under her touch anyway. </p><p>“Thank you Chloe.”</p><p>“I haven’t done anything.”</p><p>“You’ve showed kindness, heart. That is more than most. Never underestimate that power.”</p><p> The flickering lights of Persephone and Maze reappear and Chloe knows they are out of time. </p><p>“Go with blessings,” Aila says in a hushed voice before she pushes Chloe’s hands away. </p><p>“It’s clear,” Maze says, sounding almost giddy. </p><p>“Are you ready, moon child?” Persephone says, holding a hand out to Aila. Aila nods, shooting one last glance and Chloe and smiling softly, before she takes Persephone’s offered arm and shakily rises to her feet. </p><p>“Tell Lucifer I said hello Mazikeen, I hope to see you both again very soon,” Persephone says and sets off back into the dark the way they came, Aila leaning heavily on her. Chloe watches them until their light vanishes and sighs. </p><p>“What are you waiting for, Decker?”</p><p>“Nothing,” Chloe sighs, turning to follow after Maze. </p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>They clamber through the dark for a while yet, time as meaningless as it is everywhere else in this place. The only sign that they are getting closer is that Maze looks steadily more gleeful, until her whole face is lit with rapture and lust. </p><p>“Are we close then?” Chloe finally asks. </p><p>“Oh yeah,” Maze responds, something like a moan in her voice, “I can <em> taste </em> it.”</p><p>“You really missed it, didn’t you?”</p><p> Maze’s turns to her, but just before she replies her face flickers, like bad television reception.</p><p>“Maze…your face?” Chloe isn’t quite sure how to ask the question.</p><p>Maze’s hand shoots to her face in alarm, the glee vanishing, and the flickering stops.</p><p>“Uh...I have a demon face, kind of like Lucifer’s devil thing. It wants to come out here, it’s more natural for me.”</p><p>Chloe tries to soften her features, tamp down on the spike of fear she can’t help and be supportive. “You don’t have to hide from me Maze.”</p><p>Maze rolls her eyes, going to turn away and Chloe grabs her arm to stop her.</p><p>“No, really, Maze. I can’t promise it won’t take some getting used to, but, you’re my friend and I want to know you and support you. You shouldn’t have to hide from me.”</p><p>Maze looks down at Chloe’s hand on her arm and slowly back up, a little unsure, a little angry.</p><p>“It’s not nice to look at.” She snaps.</p><p>“Well, you’re a demon right? I imagine that’s kind of the point?”</p><p>Maze sighs, “okay, close your eyes.”</p><p>Chloe let’s her eyes fall closed but doesn’t let go of her grip on Maze’s arm. Maze sighs again heavily.</p><p>“You can look now.”</p><p>When she opens her eyes, she can’t help the startled gasp that comes out of her, but she carefully makes sure not to look or pull away. Maze’s eyes are downturned, like she doesn’t want to see Chloe’s reaction.</p><p>Maze’s face is half the one Chloe knows and half a decayed mask, her teeth and bones showing through her left cheek in stark white contrast to the mottled grey-green of her face.</p><p>It’s startling for sure, especially in the flickering torchlight, but it’s also so over the top and not at all what Chloe expected that after a moment Chloe actually has to stifle a laugh.</p><p>“What? That’s it?” She chokes out, her mouth twisting against a smile.</p><p>Maze bristles, “What is with you weirdos, it’s plenty scary for Hell!”</p><p>“I dunno Maze, I think you are scarier without the gruesome details, it kind of takes away from the mysterious “will she, won’t she, murder me” vibe you usually have going. Fear is much more potent when it comes from a pleasant face.”</p><p>She pauses suddenly, her brain catching up. “Wait, what do you mean ‘you weirdos’? Who else saw your face? Linda?”</p><p>Maze looks almost...sheepish? </p><p>“I may have, put it on when trick or treating with Trixie.”</p><p>“What?!”</p><p>“She thought it was a mask! She wanted me to have a costume too!”</p><p>Chloe sighs heavily, running a hand over her face. “This actually explains a lot about the old zombie movies I caught her staying up to watch.”</p><p>Maze grins, a little smug. “That’s my girl, no fear.”</p><p>Chloe can’t help but grin back. It’s true that Trixie is probably tougher and more compassionate than all of them put together. For all she feels like she struggles to balance being a mom and her career, it does seem she’s gotten a few things right.</p><p>She imagines Trixie seeing Lucifer’s true face and just knows she wouldn’t be afraid, she’d probably be more worried he was hurt, and a huge weight of anxiety she didn’t know she was carrying lifts suddenly from her chest, reminding her again they are doing the right thing. </p><p></p><div>
  <p> </p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Into the Belly of the Beast</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>
  <em>“Tell me you didn’t.” Lucifer grinds out, his voice rising in volume. “Tell me I’m stuck in my own cell. Tell me I’m hallucinating again. Tell me that you did not bring her here!”</em>
</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Please note, I have NOT watched Season 5 Pt. 1 yet, so no spoilers please and thank you!</p><p>I had MUCH more fun writing this one. I've been eager to get to this meeting for a while so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. </p><p>Please note: <em>VERY</em> brief passing mention of a sexually abusive uncle in the context of passing his Hell Door.</p><p>Errors are my own. Set directly at the end of Season 4, just after Lucifer departs. You will need to read previous chapters to follow this story.<br/>M Rating for later Chapters</p><p>Thank you for reading, enjoy~</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div>
  <p></p>
  <div class="resolved">
    <p> </p>
  </div>
</div><p>
  <span>The absolute darkness of the tunnel passes only in the strobe-like flickering of the torches, time and space and distance without meaning. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There are moments when Chloe would swear that there is no tunnel, just empty soft blackness extending into forever. In other moments, the stone feels so close, she’s certain it’s scraped every exposed part of her, her cheekbones and elbows aching with a phantom memory. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze bolts through the meager patches of light, almost insubstantial in her silent, quicksilver movements. For each aching step Chloe manages, the rocks grind and squeal beneath her with the sharp glass-like quality of lava rock, screaming her wrongness at being here.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As the tunnel began, so it ends, with no warning. No light filtering in, no logical change in size, no difference in rock or terrain. One moment they are in the deepest, darkest, black of the earth and the next, Chloe is stumbling out into a narrow corridor and painfully crashing to her knees on the black stone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Careful Decker,” but her ears are still ringing with pain and it takes her a moment to realize Maze has a hand under her elbow, trying to haul her back to her feet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She climbs clumsily upright, more lifted by Maze than she’d like to admit, and peers with narrowed eyes through the gloom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her first assessment was at least partially correct. A long, narrow corridor, lined on both sides by black hexagonal basalt pillars that seem to go on forever. The further she looks up, the more vertigo creeps under her skin and makes her legs shake and she finally has to look away. Lining the walls on either side of them are endless rusted metal doors, all without marking or discernible features. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>All of Hell is lit with an amorphous blue-grey glow, as the Underworld was, but here there is also a strange visual distortion that casts the world in fun-house mirror ripples that give Chloe an instant migraine. Ash is gently fluttering from the sky like snow, piling on ground, and rock, and their shoulders and hair alike. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze shakes herself angrily, and even her voice seems distorted and stretched. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No scent here, no one’s been down that tunnel for a while.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe eyes the gaping black maw of the tunnel behind them until it pulses like a swallowing throat and she has to turn her eyes away before she screams. The river burbles in a sinister whisper out of sight, disappearing beneath the stone pathway without pause. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe he doesn’t trust the demons right now, you know, after what happened?” Chloe offers, “maybe he doesn’t want them wandering the fringes?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze shrugs, “yeah, I guess. Come on, we’ll check home base first, we’re not far.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It takes most of the run there for Chloe’s vision to be relatively clear, even if her headache remains. She focuses simply on Maze’s back and putting one foot in front of the other the whole way but it still takes every ounce of her focus.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe should have guessed when Maze said “home base” but surprisingly, Lucifer does actually have a sort of penthouse, palace type living space in Hell. From the outside, it’s nothing more than a rough, blocky structure with a narrow, towering column looming in the twilight sky above it, all of it cut straight from the black basalt all of Hell seems to be made up of, polished to a mirror shine</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Inside, the ceilings are cavernous, disappearing into the shadows above with the same vertigo inducing effect of Persephone’s palace. The rooms are all rather bare, with the little shelf and sitting space there is cut directly into the rock and polished like the walls, but devoid of books or trinkets. There is a room that could be called a kitchen, but the only thing setting it apart from the other rooms is the addition of wide counter space, with a single empty wine bottle, and a shallow basin with wide-mouth faucet and handle to pump water. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their footsteps echo as they move from room to room, but otherwise it’s chillingly still. Even the small creature comforts Lucifer has somehow managed to get in Hell, the massive bed with its ocean of black silk sheets, the single black leather couch, the waterfall shower, all look untouched, unloved.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They eventually stumble into a throne room, not dissimilar to Persephone's. It’s nothing but large, wide steps up a dais in the center to a high-backed throne, cut straight from the rock. It looks uncomfortable and cold, it makes Chloe shiver and she doesn’t miss Maze’s subtle head bow as they pass.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they step back into the labyrinth of narrow corridors, Maze looks like she could chew glass. She glances up at the tower, as if looking for something, and swears. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe follows her gaze, “what is that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze glances up once more, “the throne.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe looks back so fast her neck cracks painfully, “up there? But what about inside?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze scoffs, “Hell was designed so that only an angel could run it. The throne inside is just to meet with us lowly, mud-crawling demons.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe can’t take her eyes off the ominous, high backed seat, perched so high. “That’s why he cut his wings off.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Partially, but yeah, it was the final ‘fuck you’ he could give his Dad on the Hell front and made sure Amenadiel couldn’t force him back down here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe feels her head filling with endless rattling questions, like a magic 8 ball with infinite sides and shaken so hard bubbles rise to the surface to obscure the answer. She desperately wants to sleep.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead, she tears her gaze away from the sky and peers down the branching corridors stretching away from them, each looking exactly the same. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, where to?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I dunno. He could be anywhere.” Maze says sourly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where do you think he might be?” Chloe asks, trying to approach the search logically.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze throws up her hands, “pick a door, any door! He could be back in 5 minutes, he could be back in 5 years. Time moves differently here and he’s immortal. He could be torturing someone, he could be moping in the dark, but you’d die or get stuck here before we could search this whole place.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe resists the urge to slap Maze, knowing Maze would probably just hit back. She takes a deep breath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can’t you track him, like you do on Earth?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze looks a little crushed and a little ashamed, “no. Everything is muted here. I can smell him, maybe get a general direction, but it wouldn’t be exact. When we were hear before...I never left his side.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A general direction is better than nothing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze shrugs, “I guess, but it could still be a hundred years before we narrowed down the corner he’s probably crying in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, this is Lucifer. We know him. He’s left the only home he’s ever built for himself, he’s stuck in a place he hates, alone, which he also hates. Would he torment himself, party, or both?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There is a tense moment of silence between them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Both.” They say simultaneously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Chloe prompts, “So, you know Hell. Where can Lucifer go for a good self-deprecating party?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucifer is…” Maze gestures broadly, looking for the word. “ugh, sentimental I guess?” She shudders, “he pretends like he isn’t, but he’s a big squishy marshmallow. Especially when it comes to his people. He’ll be somewhere in here tormenting someone who tormented his friends, and probably drunk while he’s at it. So, alcohol, someone familiar, possibly a party, ideally gruesome.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um,” Chloe racks her brain, “I dunno, an alcoholic relative? Abusive maybe? Or a criminal from a case?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze’s eyes light up, “Linda’s uncle!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who?” Chloe asks, but Maze is already walking in the other direction and Chloe has to jog to keep up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Linda had an uncle,” Maze explains over her shoulder. “Real asshole. Liked women and liked his alcohol. He also liked creeping on his niece.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe shudders, “So you think Lucifer will be there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think he’ll like to drink with a bunch of strippers while they all watch him either a) humiliate or b) dismember the guy or c) both. He had a heart attack a few years ago.” Maze's tone makes it clear that had she still be alive, she would have rectified the situation. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe swallows hard, nodding. “That sounds about right. You lead the way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze stalks into the darkness with purpose, a cat back on the hunt in her own jungle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>True to Maze’s word, Hell stretches on and on, an endless, unfathomable labyrinth. The walls, the sky, the ground, the light, the texture of the whole place is all constant, endless. The doors set into the walls all look a little different, but overall those too are the same, heavily dented, rusty metal, over and over and over. Every once in a while, she thinks she catches a faint scream that makes her whip around, but the sound is always gone before she can be sure she heard it. Just once, they pass a door that rattles slightly from the inside, making Chloe jump and scramble away from it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’ve been at it for ages, Maze getting more agitated by the second and Chloe dripping in sweat, trying not to gasp for breath and the air gets more humid, when they pass by a door that doesn’t look like the rest. Instead, someone has melted down what appears to be a mix of metals and metal objects and poured it over the door’s surface so that it looks like a torched pile of trash. Half a chair frame is embedded near the base, gold is mixed in with silver, iron, and more, chains winding in and out of the congealed mass.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze pauses a moment, looking a little surprised. “Uh, that’s new.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They look over the door in wonder for a moment, but Maze shakes herself out of the surprise and continues on without explanation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe coughs harshly in the ever present flurry of ash raining from the sky, trying to hold her sleeve over her mouth and not lose Maze stalking quickly ahead in the gloom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She keeps glancing up and back at the throne, hoping and dreading suddenly seeing a figure sitting there. She’s so distracted peering back that Maze gets too far ahead of her and she almost misses a turn.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maze! Wait up!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sees a shadow emerge in the gloom ahead, rushing towards it before she realizes too late it’s too tall to be Maze.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looks for an escape, but it’s just rock and chained doors and she doesn’t want to run for fear of losing Maze in the labyrinth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She raises her gun, tensing to stand her ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s Lucifer who steps out of the shadows and she’s so startled she almost shoots him anyway. He clearly doesn’t notice her at first, absorbed in the handkerchief he’s methodically cleaning his hands with.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She gasps at the sight of him, overwhelmed, unexpected, unable to get the air for words, and he freezes, looking up and around in surprise.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s a mess. He’s wearing what appears to be the remnants of one of his fine suits, sans jacket, streaked with ash and blood, his sleeves soaked red and pushed up haphazardly at the elbow. The effort he was making to clean his hands is clearly a lost cause. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As he makes eye contact with her, his face goes from curiously startled to deeply horrified. The handkerchief in his hands flutters to the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She holsters the gun slowly, suddenly understanding the tenseness of the moment. She holds out a hand like she would for a scared victim and tries to move with deliberate caution.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucifer?” she says, her voice hoarse from the ashy air.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He flinches at the sound.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucifer.” She tries again, coughing between words. “It’s me, it’s Chloe.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She takes a step forward and he stumbles back, catching himself roughly on a basalt pillar.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” he finally says, so quiet she almost misses it. “No you can’t be here. It’s not possible.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s quickly edging from horrified straight into deranged and she can sense a meltdown coming on. It wasn’t until now, when she could see the look on his face, that she considered how he might feel about her being in Hell for any reason at all, how he might assume she got there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucifer, please, it’s me. It’s okay, I’m alive, I’m here for you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shakes his head, bringing a hand to his mouth and leaning over like he’s gonna be sick. His eyes are wide and watery and he’s trembling visibly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chloe! Where have you-“ Maze shouts, appearing in the corridor behind Lucifer and freezing in her tracks when she spies him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His head shoots up and around at the sound of Maze’s voice and Chloe can no longer see his face but she can see the fear on Maze’s and the violent line of his shoulders.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tell me you didn’t.” Lucifer grinds out, his voice rising in volume. “Tell me I’m stuck in my own cell. Tell me I’m hallucinating again. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Tell me that you did not bring her here!</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze scowls, crossing her arms. “You left us Lucifer. You left me. I did what I had to do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The roar Lucifer lets out isn’t human. Blue-green flames burst into life on the stone around him and roll up his legs and arms, the heat pushing Chloe back, her arms over her face for protection. She screams his name, trying to get his attention, but he only has eyes for Maze and his rage.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You selfish little wretch!” Lucifer screams, lunging.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze looks distinctly and uncharacteristically like she knows she has fucked up, but she still meets Lucifer halfway without hesitation. The fight is contained to the narrow alley but no less violent for the lack of space and almost too fast for Chloe to track with human eyes. They fight in the exact same brutal, calculated way, and Chloe wonders at the millennia they must have spent in this dark place, sparring together until they moved as one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The fight is more evenly matched than she would have expected, but Lucifer is fighting with a viciousness that Chloe has never seen in him before and Maze is ending up on the losing side, a mirror of her fight with Aila. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer throws her into a wall, meets her on the rebound, and punches her shoulder clean from the socket, if her resulting scream is anything to go by. She stumbles back, blood pouring out of her mouth and over her chin, and grins.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “I see the big bad is finally back. King of Hell suits you Lucifer. Maybe you should stay here,” Maze taunts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She dodges several more hits, gets a half dozen solid kicks in, before he sinks a fist into her stomach, leaving her doubled over and coughing. Lucifer hits with the strength of a semi-truck, blows that would crush bone in a different creature. He’s just about to bring his fists down on her back when Chloe knows she has to do something to stop this </span>
  <em>
    <span>now</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe picks up the largest stone she can find and hurls it, connecting cleanly with his skull. He doesn’t go down, but he definitely stumbles, and he looks back at her, a hand coming to the back of his head in surprise. The fire around him goes out in a cloud of smoke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The distraction gives Maze enough time to tackle him, swinging him up and over in a movement that should be impossible for someone that tiny, and sends him crashing down the path and out of sight. She rushes to Chloe, taking up a defensive stance and shoving her arm back into the socket with a sick crunching sound and a cackle of hysterical laughter. She genuinely seems to be enjoying herself despite the fact that she looks like ground meat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>From the darkness, there comes a weak, raspy laugh. They can hear him moving on the stone, picking himself up, and he emerges once more from the gloom, his eyes burning like embers in his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He spits out a mouthful of blood, pushing his sleeves back up, pulling himself to his full, intimidating height. There is a cut on his forehead bleeding heavily down half his face, making him look like an unhinged thriller movie villain. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I had forgotten how inconvenient it is to be vulnerable. No mind, you’re still no match for me, Mazikeen.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe steps in front of Maze who snarls and Chloe holds up a hand to stop anything she has to say. She turns to Lucifer, trying to school her face into the most admonishing mom face she can manage.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Detective. I will have to ask you to step out of my way. Maze and I have some unfinished business to attend to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucifer, this is ridiculous. I asked Maze to bring me here, I came here for you. Do you want to keep fighting like children or can we just talk about this?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As always, Lucifer’s face reads like an open book, a maelstrom of emotions swirling there. Finally, a smile, small and pained, but still a smile. The red light bleeds from his eyes as he dabs delicately at his split lip and shakes the dust from his shirt half-heartedly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did she tell you that you are in danger here?” He asks, his voice sharp despite the smile. He relaxes into a loose predatory grace, like he might change his mind and strike at any moment. There is something desperate still lurking behind his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Contrary to how you treat me, I’m not an idiot. It’s Hell, Lucifer, not Candyland. I didn’t exactly expect an easy trip. Maze told me what it means to come here and the dangers, which means you and I both know we are short on time. Would you prefer to waste it fighting?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mazes lunges forward but Chloe puts up an arm to hold her off, deliberately jostling Maze’s bad shoulder so she hisses and falls back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer watches her for a long, tense moment, his face falling, and finally nods.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer leads them down a new path that looks the same as all the others, but still opens on the palace, as if the whole of Hell shifts and turns to drop them at this perpetual center. Chloe has a brief hysterical moment where she imagines Lucifer as the Goblin King and genuinely almost loses it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just once on their walk, Maze comes up a little too close behind him and he snarls deep in his chest, barely turning his head toward her, and she falls back instantly, her face so strangely sad and longing that Chloe can’t bear to keep looking. When she peeks again, Maze is suddenly gone and Chloe stumbles to a stop, looking around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maze?” She calls, more fear in her voice than she’d like to admit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s fine, Detective,” Lucifer growls from some feet away where he too has paused and turned back to look at her. “Her presence was irking me, but she will be back. This is her home, remember.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turns and takes off once more, waiting for neither reply or acknowledgement, and Chloe scrambles to catch up, peering down each corridor they pass in hopes Maze will appear once more. Home turf or not, it feels wrong to leave Maze alone now, especially with her injuries, but Lucifer leaves no room for argument.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer vibrates with tension the whole way, stalking his realm with precision and rage in every long stride. Chloe picks up her pace to try and get a closer look without letting on she is, peeking at him out of the corner of her eye and soaking in all the details of him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now that she has a chance to really look at him for a moment and in slightly better lighting, he’s even worse off than she initially thought. Lucifer is toeing a line between human and...something else. His face is sunk and gaunt, pale in a way he never was on Earth, deep bruise-like shadows around his eyes. His eyes and hair seem darker than she remembers, his iris bleeding out a little too wide, black and inhuman.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He is distressingly quiet through the whole trip. When they reach the palace, he does not turn to her or offer comfort or explanations, and Chloe can’t tell if he’s forgotten she’s there or if he’s trying to forget. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As she watches him carefully, he fills the basin in what she still thinks of as the kitchen with water, hissing as he scrubs roughly at his arms and presses a timid hand to his face, getting a feel for the damage. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she forgot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucifer?” she says quietly, almost feeling like she should whisper here, and he looks up in a blank kind of surprise, face dripping reddish water. “I’m so sorry, maybe I should leave so you can heal?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Absolutely not!” Lucifer thunders, immediately deflating when she flinches at his tone, his hands outstretched in the universal sign of “no harm”. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” he chokes out the words, hasty and inelegant, “I just, don’t trust your safety out there. Even with Maze at your side, there are a lot more bad things in Hell than even she can protect you from.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He takes a step closer, watching her like he expects her to bolt. “I’ll be fine, I am fine. Chloe,” her name comes out shaky on his voice, “please don’t leave my sight while you are in this blasted place.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The past image of him gaunt, red-eyed, blue-lit in the light of the interrogation room screaming “I can’t sleep!” jumps to her mind. She hadn’t listened to him then, her trust had wavered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not this time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She steps into the space between his arms, running her hands along his wrists to grip his forearms. He freezes under her touch, his hands twitching like he’s not sure what to do. She draws circles on his skin with her thumbs, soothing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not going anywhere unless you send me away,” she says softly, “We can clean you up and you’ll heal just fine. I’ve seen you take a worse beating from Maze.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The comment lightens the mood like she hoped and his mouth curves in a half-smile, pulling at the bruises and cuts on his face, but he doesn’t seem to notice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pulls back from her, hands dragging, and she almost protests the loss before he inclines his head down the passage and gestures for her to follow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He takes her to a room that her and Maze hadn’t checked before, hidden behind a cleverly engineered bookcase, empty of books. When the shelf slides back, it opens onto a room that is completely unlike the rest of his palace in Hell. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This room is smaller, but warm and colorful. It’s still built from the black stone, but somehow he’s filled it with proper wooden bookshelves, mahogany glowing warm in the light from the fire in the massive fireplace. The shelves are filled with books of all sizes, shapes, and colors and the floor is blanketed in soft rugs in rich earthy tones. There is a single massive plush armchair pulled close to the fire, the back high and straight, and several strange, old wine bottles alongside a set of crystal glasses on the tray next to it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He beelines straight for the alcohol and she catches him by the elbow. For one brief second, he’s taut as a snake coiling to strike, but in the next second it bleeds from his limbs like it was never there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She reminds herself to be careful here, he’s been trapped in this place looking over his shoulder for too long and there is a reason physical touch isn’t instinct for him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She loosens her grip on his elbow, but doesn’t let go. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucifer, why don’t you have a seat? I'll get you a drink. Any chance you have a first aid kit?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer watches her for a long second, his face unreadable, and then gently pulls his arm from her grasp, collapsing into the armchair and wincing when he hits a sore spot. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Drink first, I’ll clean up later,” he says, adjusting several times to sit in a way that doesn’t hurt and then finally giving up. “And considering no one in Hell needed a first aid kit until you arrived, no.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He finally sounds a little more like himself, a little petulant, a little sarcastic, and she can’t help the smile that jumps to her lips. She wrestles with the wine bottle, glass thick and heavy with a wax sealed cork, and pours two glasses of the dark red wine. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She hands him his in silence, and he nods in thanks, gesturing with the glass like he’s toasting her, sinking back into the chair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She paces around the room, looking at books and sneaking glances at Lucifer who continues to stare into the fire. She hasn’t seen his wings out since she arrived, but the unmistakable white feathers scattered around on the floor are broken and dingy, some shattered at the base, and she’s scared to see the state of the wings they came from. She finally takes a sip of her wine and then has to resist the urge to moan at how good it is. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This wine is amazing,” she comments into the tense silence, feeling too loud. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He blinks slowly, looking down at his glass and then over to her, like he’s having trouble processing the words. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, yes, I suppose. It’s not bourbon, but it will do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where is it from? Doesn’t seem like you have much in the way of food and drink around here. Maze told me that nothing tastes good in Hell”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He swirls his glance, tipping his head to watch it. “It only tastes decent because it’s aged so long and pressed from grapes in the old world, richer flavor, better soil. A bottle of your supermarket wine would probably taste like sand here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pauses, looking down into his glass, “on second thought, your supermarket wine tastes like sand on Earth too. I think this one is probably Roman, mmm, 1st century.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe covers her mouth, choking, trying not to spray wine all over the beautiful carpet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This wine is from the Romans, like, the actual Romans?” she finally gets out between coughing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shrugs, “nothing ages quite like fine wine and celestials,” but the joke is dry, humorless. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nods in shock, staring down into her glass and breathing carefully in and out of her nose. There isn’t another chair in the room, but it seems like he hasn’t noticed, so she gingerly lowers herself to the floor near his legs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He catches her by the elbow and she looks up, startled, “What-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” he says again, rushed, and she doesn’t think he’s said the word sorry this much in his entire existence. “Where are my manners, please take my seat.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before he can stand, she puts a hand on his knee and he goes still as a statue, his eyes locked on her hand. The blood still caked down one side of his face somehow makes him look almost dramatically sad, a gruesome tragedy mask.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucifer, it’s okay, just sit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just to force him to stay in place, she leans against his legs, resting her head on his thigh and pointedly not meeting his eyes. He’s tense under her for a long, breathless moment, and then finally he relaxes, leaning back into the chair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The silence stretches around them, broken only by the crackling in the grate. She watches the fire closely and realizes it's not a real fire. There are no logs, nothing to burn, just fire popping merrily away of its own accord, the colors shifting and rippling with iridescence. She peers down at the wine in her glass, just on the edge of pleasantly tipsy, and finds that even though she can barely wrap her mind around what had happened, what is currently happening, or where it might lead them in the future, for a brief, shining moment, she no longer cares. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, she wants more than anything in the world, to crawl up into the chair, into his arms, and whisper all the things clattering around her heart. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looks up to find him asleep in the high back chair, his head rolled to one side and his glass tipping in loose fingers where it rests on his thigh. He looks small and pale under the bruises and blood, like he’s fading away. She wonders when the last time he slept was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe stands carefully, trying to make her movements slow and quiet. She carefully reaches for the wine glass, but when she goes to tug it out of his grip, his fingers tighten unexpectedly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looks up to find him watching her, his vision a little unfocused and the bags more pronounced under his eyes. They watch each other in silence for a moment that feels like an eternity to Chloe. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wordlessly loosens his grip on the glass, allowing her to take it and set it on the side table. She turns back and reaches a hand out to him which he eyes warily. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on,” she says, trying for a coy smile, “I don’t bite.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wish you would,” he replies, but the innuendo is half-hearted. He slips his hand into hers, his skin surprisingly cool to the touch, and unfolds from the chair, his slow, careful movements giving away the extent of his injuries. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once he’s standing, she deliberately and carefully, winds her fingers into his. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s go to bed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His face does the most pathetic and cute flip-flop of emotions she’s ever seen and she has to smother a laugh. He looks torn between jumping like an eager puppy and wary, like it’s a trick. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just to sleep,” she adds, and his shoulders relax, like of course that’s what she meant and everything is back to normal. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Except they’re in Hell and it’s not, but that’s a panic for a little later. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’ll worry after a nap</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she thinks, tugging his hand and dragging him back to his own bedroom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She watches his every movement hungrily, like he might disappear if she blinks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As they step into the bedroom, a fire jumps to life in the grate of its own accord. Lucifer gently untangles himself from her grip, his touch lingering, and walks up to the candelabra on the side table, pinching his fingers over the first wick. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She jumps when a flame sparks to life over his fingers and watches with fascination as he sets the flame to the wick, like watching someone set a ladybug on a leaf, and moves on to the other two candles. He works his way around, lighting all the candles in the dark corners until the room swims with flickering, golden light.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Were you always able to do that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His eyes flick to her and away, back to his task. “I hadn’t been able to for a long time. Some things have come back to me recently.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sounds concerned, almost scared. More of his Father’s gifts, bestowed unwillingly? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What, no electricity in Hell?” she asks, hoping to see him smile properly, just once.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She can only see him in profile, but she does catch his mouth quirk up at the corner for the barest moment before it’s gone again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No electricity, no music, no food, no alcohol. All boring and depressing, all the time.” he replies, a tone of bitterness to his voice. “I could go into people’s Hell loops, but enjoying anything there is about as satisfying as a package of saltines in the desert”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sits heavily on the edge of the bed, patting the space next to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My apologies, I only have the one bed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She raises her eyebrows, “You? Apologizing for getting me into your bed?” She holds a hand to his forehead like she would a sick child, “you must be dying.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He mutters something that sounds like, “I wish” but she isn’t sure. He leans into the pressure of her hand, his eyes falling shut. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucifer?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hmmms in response. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you have cloth maybe, and some water? You shouldn’t go to bed with all this blood on you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll take care of it.” he says, moving to stand and she pushes him gently back down by the shoulders. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please?” she asks, “I’d like to do this for you. I want to help.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looks at her for a long, tense moment, his face unreadable, before he finally gestures to a doorway off the side of his room. A bathroom of sorts, she assumes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There is probably a bowl of some kind in there, and linens on the shelf. Careful of the water, it is unpleasantly cold.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As with the kitchen, it’s not a bathroom so much as a vaguely bathroom like space. There is a counter, and the stone has been polished so smooth over the top of it, she can see her reflection. There is another shallow basin with a water pump, like the kitchen, and a large tub cut directly into the stone on the opposite wall wit a waterfall shower head over the top of it looking strangely out of place. There is a pitcher near the sink, next to a large shallow bowl. Everything matches, all looking like it was sculpted from the same black rock, perhaps the only workable material in Hell. She wonders if he creates things himself, or if he has demons or humans do it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She finds a stack of cream colored linens on the shelf next to the tub, long rectangular bolts of woven fabric, soft to the touch but strange compared with the terrycloth she’s used to.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s still sitting on the bed, his shoulders hunched forward, stare distant, when she steps back into the room, a pitcher of water in one hand, bowl in the other and linen over her arm. She sets the bowl on the side table and carefully pours a measure of water. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>True to Lucifer’s word, the water is icy cold to the touch. She hisses when she dips the cloth in, the joints in her fingers immediately protesting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s always like that,” he says quietly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wrings out the cloth, one hand on his chin to bring his face up and the other delicately wiping at the blood on his face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would have thought it would be warmer here, everything hot.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer scoffs under her, wincing when he jostles something painful. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everything here is unsatisfying. The air is too warm, the water too cold. Uncomfortable and unpleasant at all times.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They fall into a comfortable silence, broken only when Lucifer whines, pulling away from her ministrations and she pulls him back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Would you sit still? You’re worse than Trixie with a scraped knee.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am not,” he snaps, but it has no heart. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She assesses her work. She’s gotten the worst of the blood off and the cut on his forehead has clogged well, a lucky break it doesn’t need stitches. His other injuries are superficial, scrapes and bruises. He escaped a broken nose by the skin of his teeth, but he’s already sporting the beginning of a spectacular black eye, swelling around his cheekbone and the bridge of his nose. She thinks he might have sprained a wrist, he’s carrying it in a careful way, but he hasn’t mentioned it and she doesn’t want to push. He could use a shower, but considering the icy water, it’s probably not the best idea. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She runs a thumb over his bruised cheekbone, watching the way his eyes flutter at the contact. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I kiss you?” she asks, almost a whisper. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He blinks, delightfully confused, “Can you - uh, well. Yes, I suppose. Yes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She cradles his face as gently as she can, folding to him. It’s a soft, almost heartbreaking kiss. Lucifer sighs under her, a pained sound, her breath catches in her chest in reply. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pulls back, resting his forehead to hers and his hands coming up to hold her arms like he needs an anchor. His breath comes sharply and she’s worried for a moment that she’s hurt him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you for asking.” he whispers between them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s fragile in a way she hadn’t considered since before she found out the truth about him. Since the Devil revelation, he’s seemed impossible, unstoppable. It’s only now she remembers the hunched, broken way he carried himself in his lowest moments, someone desperately in need of help and not knowing how to ask for it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She imagines Hell doesn’t hold consent in very high regard. How much of himself must he bend, break, and reshape, just to survive in this place? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He seems content to just sit in the cradle of her arms, unmoving, not asking for more. He soaks up the contact, face turned up and eyes closed, like she’s sunlight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How long has it been?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His brow creases but his eyes don’t open, leaning his face into the palm of her hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know,” he says honestly, brokenly, “a long time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She remembers what Maze told her, about time moving differently in Hell. It took them maybe a week after he left to get here if she had to guess, but for him it could be anything from weeks to years.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She glances upwards, unable to help the stab of rage in her chest.  </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>God, if it’s been years...I’m coming for you.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>She coaxes him out of his dirty clothes with barely an innuendo on his part, a telling sign of his level of exhaustion. He sits heavily down on the bed once more, leaning against the backrest, and watches her with sharp eyes while she undresses, but strangely doesn’t comment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There is a bolt of self-consciousness in her, but she chants in her head that it is okay. She loves him, he loves her, she just ventured into literal Hell for him, and he’s already seen her naked. They are both too tired and beat-up for this to be anything more than comfort right now and she needs to be free of the majority of grime and gore she’s picked up on her descent into Hell. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Indeed, by the time she’s removed her shoes and shimmied out of her pants, she looks up to find him slid down and out like a light anyway. She climbs gently beneath the sheets, tucking herself into his side without smothering him. She worries for a moment she won’t be able to sleep, but she’s out almost as fast as he was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She starts awake an unknown amount of time later, all the candles out but the fire still crackling in the grate, casting flickering shadows. Panic seizes her for a moment before she realizes what woke her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze is tucked into the corner near the fire, sliding a stone over the edge of her blade, staring unselfconsciously at the bed. She makes eye contact with Chloe, but doesn’t say anything. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe watches Maze watch them, her eyes catching light and reflecting like a predator and is surprised to find she’s glad Maze is there with them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe worried that if anything happened with her and Lucifer, it would ruin their friendship. It was hard not to imagine being jealous of that perfect leather bound body, or the connection Maze and Lucifer so clearly have, or losing Maze as a friend. Trixie would be crushed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But here, in the shadows of Hell, Chloe doesn’t feel even a drop of jealousy or hesitation. Instead, she’s thankful that Lucifer was never alone in the dark, thankful someone as smart and strong as Maze is always watching over him, thankful that Maze watches over her and her daughter now with the same single-minded ferocity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thankful that Maze loves them all, with all her being, in the only way she knows how. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wordlessly, Chloe reaches out a hand, wiggling her fingers to Maze in invitation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze blinks for the first time since Chloe noticed her there, her mouth dropping open a little in surprise. Chloe wiggles her fingers again, tilting them down in a “come here” motion. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze steps out of the shadows, slow and wary, her feet making no sound. She makes her way over to the bed, sitting gingerly on the edge near Chloe’s hip. She watches Chloe for a long, tense moment, her face unreadable, and then her eyes slide to Lucifer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I found him, after he first fell,” Maze whispers, a softness to her voice Chloe has never heard before. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe turns to look at him. He’s lying on his back, air </span>
  <em>
    <span>wheet wheeting</span>
  </em>
  <span> through his swollen nose, purple black bruises blooming across his face. He sleeps with the depth of a toddler and she has to resist the urge not to laugh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze presses a hand across Chloe’s rib cage, startling her slightly, and leans on her to reach across and brush Lucifer’s bangs off his face. He doesn’t budge.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know how long he lay in the crater of his fall before I came to him. Eons, perhaps. Hell built itself around him and the demons were born in the wake of his power. Hell and Lilith creating soldiers for the new master. I was just a little demon,” she continues softly, “and he was so beautiful. Even broken and burning in the bottom of the pit, he was beautiful. He was fierce, vengeful, strong. Everything a little demon dreamed of. Demons are squabblers by nature, violent, and short-lived, but Lucifer taught me more than survival, he taught me to thrive, to rise above the petty, hard-scrabble life. I promised then I would protect him until my last breath in return.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze brings her gaze back to Chloe, leaning over Chloe like her body is a shield against Hell, against all the bad things in the world. She touches the edges of Chloe’s hair lightly, her face screwed up in concentration. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now he has you,” she says, but it’s not bitter, not anymore. “And you taught me things too. How to be a roommate and a friend. How to trust myself. You trust me with Trixie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sits up, fierce and unbroken, her eyes flashing in the dark. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I protect Lucifer Morningstar, it’s what I was created to do. Now you are part of him, and he's a part of you. I want you to know I’ll protect you too, and Trixie, until my last breath.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maze,” Chloe says shakily, reaching to touch Maze’s arms, unsure what else to say.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe’s throat goes dry when Maze shifts off the bed to kneel at its side, her head inclined to her chest politely and her hands stretched out towards Chloe across the sheets, like she’s begging. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Like she’s bowing to a queen</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please, don’t leave me behind,” Maze whispers into the dark. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe sits up, uncaring of her state of undress, her hands coming immediately to Maze’s on the bed. Maze looks up slowly, wary. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Never</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Chloe says with all the conviction she can muster, every ounce of truth in her body. “We’ll never leave you behind Maze.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze watches her for a long, tense moment, her eyes dancing around Chloe’s face and then seems to come to a decision because she sniffs once, almost like she’s shaking off the emotion, and stands quickly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, Maze,” Chloe says, reaching out to her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze looks back with a grin and Chloe thinks she can just make out the flash of a knife in the dark, “don’t worry, I’ll be back. I have some turf to reclaim around here. Have to show these low-life demons I’m still the boss.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mazikeen.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They both startle, looking back at where Lucifer is barely awake, propped up on one elbow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He reaches out a hand to Maze and she returns to the bedside, kneeling next to Chloe’s hip and letting him take her hand so that Chloe is sheltered beneath their arms. Lucifer ducks his head, pressing a kiss to Maze’s hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I vow the same Mazikeen. We will never leave you behind.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze’s eyes are wide and surprised in the dark and Chloe reaches out for her other hand to find her trembling finely. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He lets her go and she slides back to her feet without her usual grace. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He yawns widely, tucking himself into Chloe’s side, “we’ll talk later Maze. But...thank you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze nods and turns sharply for the door, still apparently at a loss for words. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Be safe Mazikeen,” Chloe whispers to her retreating back, “come back to us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze pauses for a second at the threshold, but doesn’t look back, and then is gone into the shadows. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’ll be fine,” Lucifer mutters into the skin of Chloe’s neck. His hands roaming like he wants to stay awake but he’s already yawning again. “She’s got her big demon panties on.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She runs her hands over his arms, still marveling that she gets to touch. “I know, but, I want her to know that I care, that I want her safe.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He goes silent and still and she has to crane her neck back to see his face. He’s watching her carefully, eyes lidded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He blinks. “I love you.” he says, confused sounding, like he didn’t mean to say the words aloud.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She twists in his arms, grabbing him by the jaw and kissing him soundly. He makes a little </span>
  <em>
    <span>mmph</span>
  </em>
  <span> of surprise before he relaxes into it, gathering her up in his arms. It’s got to hurt his face but he doesn’t seem to notice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pulls back, resting her forehead to his temple, a laugh on her lips. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I love you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s still pressingly dark when she opens her eyes next, feeling a little groggy, and it takes her a few moments to remember where she is and that there is no sunlight coming. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stretches luxuriously and nearly screams when she turns to find Lucifer kneeling on the bed, looming over her. She brings a hand to her thundering heart. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucifer!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t reply, staring at her with a broken, longing look. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought I dreamt it,” he whispers in the space between them, his hands trembling when they come up to touch her hair. “Am I dreaming?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She reaches out to him and he flinches under her touch, glancing at her hands and back to her face quickly. He looks crushed and a little wild, and she feels some of that manic desperation flutter in her own chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Detective, I would have given anything in the entire universe, and several more besides, never to see you in Hell for any reason.” He says quietly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sits up slowly, pushing him back gently so that he lays down once more, curling over him in hopes that she can protect him from this place, from the world, from his own sorrow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I, Lucifer Morningstar, will move Heaven and Hell, quite literally, to make sure you never have to be anywhere but where you want to be.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A pained smile breaks out over his face, a single tear sliding down out of the corner of his eye and into his hair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, you’ve certainly proven yourself, haven’t you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Didn’t you have any faith in me? Did you think I would leave you here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer leans up into her, one arm coming up around her back as he presses his forehead to hers and it takes her a moment to realize tears are sliding down her face too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re the only thing I have faith in, Chloe.”</span>
</p><p></p><div>
  <p> </p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Between Scylla and Charybdis</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>
  <em>"The man shrugs. “Hell...adapts. This used to be Lucifer’s Hell but, I think it will suit you just fine.”</em>
</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <strong> Please note, I have NOT watched Season 5 Pt. 1 yet, so no spoilers please and thank you!</strong>
</p><p>Errors are my own. Set directly at the end of Season 4, just after Lucifer departs. You will need to read previous chapters to follow this story.</p><p>M Rating for later Chapters, see the end of the chapter for notes</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div>
<p></p></div><p>
  <span>Chloe wakes to muttered cursing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She lifts her head to look around, still disoriented by the lack of natural light. The bed is cool and empty next to her and she can hear water running as constant as the stream of cursing from the next room over. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer must have braved the shower then. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She considers the grimy quality of her own skin, but the thought of that icy water sluicing down her entire body makes her cringe, and she decides she’ll make do without for now. A dig through her backpack reveals clean underwear and a shirt and her jeans are still serviceable after a good shake, even if they are going directly in the trash when she gets home. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’s pacing the room chewing laboriously on a mouthful of dry protein bar, flavorless and gritty, and trying to rebraid her hair at the same time as she waffles over walking into the bathroom or not. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course, she argues with herself, it’s not like it’s anything she hasn’t seen, right? But then, this is different. Both of them rested and relatively clean, the air suddenly charged with more than just desperate relief. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She runs her fingers over the mantle, feeling the cool texture of the stone, watching the fire crackle in iridescent colors. Lucifer swears again beneath the sound of the water, more loudly this time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before she can decide, an ornate box resting on a high shelf next to the fireplace catches her eye. She peeks at the bathroom door, but the water runs on and Lucifer’s muttering continues, and her curiosity wins out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stands on tiptoe, just barely able to scoot the box forward with her fingertips. As it slides from the shelf she almost drops it, surprised by its weight, and manages a barely there save, holding it tightly to her chest as her heart pounds. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sets it delicately on a lower shelf and cracks open the lid, peering within carefully. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Curiosity killed the cat you know,” Lucifer says directly in her ear and she swears in surprise, dropping the lid as her hand goes to her chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t look angry though, just amused. He’s clad in his suit pants from before, but a new shirt, vaguely old fashioned and rolled up at the elbows rather than his usual cuff links and jacket. He has a length of linen draped over his head where he scrubs at his wet hair, hanging softly over his forehead and sending little drops of water down his skin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can look, I don’t mind.” He’s smiling as he gestures, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. His bruises are already starting to yellow and the cut on his forehead is nothing more than a clean pink line now. She squashes the part of her that is starting to worry this was a mistake. Maybe...maybe he came here to escape her? Escape the pain she causes him?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She opens the box, more to have something to focus on other than her own worry, than actual curiosity. Still, what she finds inside does make her pause. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe lifts the crown carefully from its satin bed, raising an amused, questioning eyebrow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer shrugs, “What can I say? I had a King of Hell, sovereign ruler, phase. I was stuck in Hell, might as well make it my castle.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She holds the crown up and it catches the light, dark and iridescent like a raven’s wing. It’s surprisingly heavy for its looks, a simple unadorned band, so cold to the touch it almost burns. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I see it on you?” she asks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He grimaces but steps forward, pulling down the linen cloth and bowing elegantly to allow her to place it on him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As he straightens, it seems to catch the light differently, casting his face in sharper shadows. He seems suddenly older, more ethereal, his skin strangely pale and cool under the dark line of it on his brow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a ridiculous thing,” Lucifer snaps, reaching to take it off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” she cries, catching his hands and then freezes, realizing what she’d said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I just mean, hold on a second. I barely got to see it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He watches her carefully, but lowers his hands, allowing her to see. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She brings her hands slowly to his temples, tracing lightly up along the band and into his hair. She tries to ignore his wondering, delighted face as he watches her through his lashes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why detective,” he says quietly, “I do believe you like me in a crown.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She bites her lip, tracing lightly across his brow, his eyes fluttering shut. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe,” she blows out a breath, “don’t get a big head about it or it might not fit anymore.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He concedes to wear it while she admires the cool, regal cast of his features, but he shifts foot to foot under the attention and it’s only a few seconds more before she carefully removes it, laying it back in the box and trying not to let on how she hears him sigh in relief. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>An awkward silence descends between them, too close and too far from each other all at once. He is still looking at her with a desperate, manic energy, and she wants to reach out to soothe him and finds she doesn’t know how. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucifer I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Detective-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They break at the exact same moment, and she flinches back as though hit, wishing immediately she hadn’t at the frown that crosses his features. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My apologies Detective, you first.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something gaping and raw starts to crumble open in her chest. “Lucifer...you can call me Chloe.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He ducks his head, looking more drawn than before, and she wishes she knew where she went wrong. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, of course,” he says quietly, but she can already tell it’s not an acceptance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She reaches up to trace his cheekbone gently, trying to put all of her love and longing into the touch, willing him to come back to her from whatever dark place his thoughts are currently residing. As before, he leans desperately into the touch, but with an air of sadness she can’t seem to banish. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She opens her mouth to speak again, but he pulls away from her suddenly, sending the chasm between them gaping wider.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come, Detective. I would like to find Mazikeen so that we can get you out of here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She opens her mouth, reaching out to him, but he’s already turned away, striding from the room and leaving her to scramble to catch up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He manages to remain 4 steps ahead of her the entire way, keeping her breathless and on her toes. She almost catches him by the sleeve as they round the corner into the throne room but she’s distracted by the sight of Maze, lounged in the high seat with one jangling boot propped up on the armrest, swinging her blade round and round on a single finger. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mazikeen,” Lucifer says, a shallow parody of his old delight, “just the demon I was looking for.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze brings both feet down and leans forward with her elbows on her knees. “I was trying to take care of some unfinished business.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There is a weird, testing tone to her voice as well, like she has something else she wants to say but isn’t sure how. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I’m sure you were a very efficient little demon. Now, I have-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hold up!” Maze barks, stomping down the steps in a jangle of chains, “I have some questions for you first.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer bristles, his eyes a little wide and just on the hint of outrage, but he nods in the end, gesturing for her to go on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She walks right into his space, looking him up and down with a suspicious eye. Chloe notices all her injuries appear to be closed as well, but her face is still mottled blue-black with deep bruises from their fight the day before. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re on a bit of a schedule Mazikeen.” Lucifer hisses, anger building in his voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sniffs in derision. “Okay then, what did you do with Dromos and Squee? The other demons practically pissed themselves when I asked.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer’s face is dark, “I took care of them personally. They won’t be bothering anyone, Hell or Earth, again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze looks disappointed, “Damn, I was hoping to have a shot at Squee. I hated that dude.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe can’t help her shiver. It’s a brutal reminder of just who Lucifer and Maze are, where they are. It’s like a bucket of cold water over her head. She folds her arms tightly over her chest and tries not to feel like a third wheel here. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, well, don’t be concerned. You learned from the best after all. He got what was coming to him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze looks Lucifer up and down again, calculating, and then suddenly socks him in the gut. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer doubles over, gasping, just as Chloe shouts, “Maze!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze steps back, hands up, as Lucifer slowly straightens, the manic anger bleeding back across his face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do not </span>
  <em>
    <span>test</span>
  </em>
  <span> me, Mazikeen.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You deserved that,” she snarls. “You left me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My intention was to seal the gates. You had made it exceedingly clear that you didn’t wish to serve me any further and that you were taking steps to build a life on Earth. It was my assumption you wouldn’t want to actually be trapped in Hell for eternity.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah well,” Maze says, her voice cracking horribly and Chloe can feel the despair in her own chest welling up, “you didn’t ask, did you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer doesn’t reply, he and Maze simply staring for an endless amount of time. Chloe is just about to excuse herself when Maze suddenly scrubs at her face with a back of a hand, shattering the stillness. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anyway, what’s with the melted door?” Maze asks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer freezes for the barest moment, and then shrugs. “It was my Hell door, where I was stuck when you killed me in the hospital. I didn’t want to risk getting drawn back in with no backup, so I had the demons melt anything they could find and seal it up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe is burning with questions. Lucifer has his own Hell door? What could be behind it? But she can tell by the look on his face as he turns away from them that he doesn’t wish to speak about it anymore.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze hums, like she didn’t really care to hear the answer anyway. “Told ya you’d get stuck.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer turns on Maze with the precision of a striking snake and barks something that Chloe assumes must be a language but actually sounds more like a series of growls. Lilim, she remembers, Amenadiel’s voice from the alley jumping to the front of her mind. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze shrinks back a little, but her reply in the same raspy language carries the resentful tones she usually speaks with. He bares his teeth at her and she looks down and away, remaining there even as he stalks away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t go far Mazikeen,” he calls over his shoulder, “we have business to attend to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe looks back and forth from the door Lucifer has just disappeared through and Maze grinding her teeth and looking disconcertingly lost. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maze, I-” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Forget it Decker,” she snaps, “go find him before he drowns himself in a puddle. We need to get out of here soon.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s a stark reminder of how long they’ve already been down here and the fact that they decidedly cannot stay. Chloe’s starting to worry if Lucifer might take more convincing than she ever expected. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She manages to find her way back through the twisting hallways with only a few wrong turns. When she steps into the bedroom, she’s surprised to find Lucifer holding her backpack, peering around the room as if he’s looking for something. He drops it on the bed when she enters.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You need to apologize to Maze,” she says, electing to ignore his weird behavior.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer freezes in the middle of the room and stares, “Excuse me, I what?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Apologize. To Maze. Now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He scoffs in delighted disbelief and she stares back, refusing to back down. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a version of herself is laughing hysterically.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Bet you never thought you’d stare down the Devil in his own castle, did you?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s verging on, but not quite as long as, their longest stare down ever, when Lucifer cracks. He sits heavily on the bed, steepling his fingers in front of him like he’s considering a particularly poor deal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And why would I do that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There are a million reasons you should be apologizing to Maze, but the most important one right now is that you broke your promise. You lied.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His eyes go flinty and his smile sharp and she knows she’s hit on something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t lie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You told Maze you would never leave her behind. Yet here you are, and now that we’ve come of our own free will to get you, you’re blaming her for my being here. She’ll never tell you, but her heart is broken. It wasn’t just you she lost that night. Eve vanished and Amenadiel and Linda are wrapped up in a brand new baby. Maze is my family too, Lucifer, and I wasn’t going to let her go alone any more than I was going to let you be alone.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She takes a big shuddering breath, “So you go apologize to her...right now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer drops his head, shoulders shaking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you...laughing?” Chloe narrowly avoids shouting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He surges to his feet, eyes wild, mouth split in a parody of a smile but it’s nothing but teeth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I will not </span>
  <em>
    <span>apologize</span>
  </em>
  <span> to that selfish creature. She brought you here specifically for her own gain and put you in immeasurable danger. Not to mention the torment of taunting me with the one thing she knows I desire. Truly she is the best torturer Hell has to offer, all manipulation and spite.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span> “Lucifer, coming here was my idea!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I’m sure she made you think that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe digs her figures in her hair, trying not to scream. “No, she didn’t convince me of anything. I said ‘lets go to Hell’ and she said “that sounds crazy, let’s go’ and we packed up and found ourselves a demigod and got on an insane celestial train and here I am!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She is screaming by the end of it, despite her best efforts, chest heaving.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer puts his hands on his hips, “yes, speaking of, how did you get here? Considering I sealed the gates and I’m not arguing with Amenadiel’s smug face, it can’t have been an angelic route. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe sighs heavily, realizing her knees are shaking. She crosses past him, resisting the urge to reach out, and sits heavily on the bed before her legs collapse. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We came through the Underworld, Persephone took us through the tunnels.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer lets out a rough, furious breath. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That idiotic little demon, I swear-” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You didn’t give us another choice Lucifer! You sealed the gates. Maze said we couldn’t survive a Hellmouth. She met a demigod hunter while hunting bounties, the girl is a daughter of Artemis. It was a bit of a whirlwind from there to be honest, I’m honestly not sure how long we’ve been traveling.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer is watching her carefully with something like a growing alarm. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You need to leave this place, Detective, immediately. You are already weakening and even I cannot save you if your soul comes free from your body. I would fly you directly out, but as you know, the gates are sealed rather permanently.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe brings a hand to her forehead, the headache there growing like a living thing. “Yes, I know. But we came all this way for a reason.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She lifts her head, unable to stop the tears that spill over her cheeks, “I’m not leaving without you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The fear and anger on his face cracks, replaced by that sad broken smile of his that is somehow even worse. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh Detective.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucifer...please. Don’t do this to me again. I’m not leaving you here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hell must have a King, Detective. You’ve seen the throne with your own eyes. You know why a celestial must take up the task and truthfully, I am well suited to it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe chokes, “don’t say that. You don’t enjoy this, I know you don’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer brings himself up to his full height, something hard and cold in his face that wasn’t there the day before. Something cruel that she never imagined would be directed at her. She doesn’t know how everything’s changed so fast, leaving her as dizzy as any physical blow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s been a long time Detective. Perhaps you don’t know me as well as you think you do. How could you, a mere mortal, understand me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sob breaks out of her with a gasp and she claps her hands over her eyes, unable to bear the cruelty glinting in his eyes here and now. Behind the star bursts of color inside her eyelids, she can just picture his face from last night, fond and longing and lonely, and wishes with all her heart she could go back to that moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t believe you would say that,” she finally manages to say, pleased at the anger that is finally starting to make itself known in her stomach, writhing and electric. She hangs onto it desperately. “I know you better...better than </span>
  <em>
    <span>anyone.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not. Anymore.” Lucifer growls. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This is...insanity. She traversed the depths of the afterlife for this man. Abandoned her home and her daughter and the very sun just to see him smile again. She risked her life and her sanity and her job and her heart and he’s just standing there, stark and vicious against the backdrop of his stark, vicious kingdom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to find Maze,” she grinds out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You will not wander Hell alone.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you care? Obviously, I’m an idiot human who deserves what she gets. I made it this far, I think I can handle it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stalks past him, snatching her backpack roughly off the bed as she goes, and wills her knees strong at least until she gets out of the room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The demons can use you for toothpicks for all I care!” Lucifer calls after her, “You humans are stubborn, unpleasant creatures and you deserve the fate you get!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine!” Chloe turns back at the door and screams. She takes a steadying breath, trying to compose herself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine,” she says again, “I’m sorry I bothered you. Enjoy Hell.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She turns on her heel and storms out, expecting at any moment to feel his hand on her arm. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’s more crushed than she has words for when it doesn’t come and she barrels full tilt into the ash-filled twilight of Hell, vision blurred by tears. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She’s lost.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Stupid!</span>
  </em>
  <span> her mind shouts, in something like Dan’s voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She slows to a walk, looking around her, the feeling of being watched suddenly crawling across her skin. The dim light and raining ash make the world a disorienting vertigo nightmare and sweat is dripping off her now, the air thick and heavy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her hand lands on a solid surface, trying to catch her bearings, and she looks up to find herself in front of Lucifer’s Hell door, the solid mass of melted metal and trash somehow larger than before. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The door seems to heat beneath her touch, and she snatches her hand back, startled when the door begins to glow. She stumbles back as far as she can, throwing an arm up over her face as heat radiates off the door in waves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As fast as it came, the light goes out, and she peeks to find all the metal has melted away from the door, creating a puddle of half formed trash at the base. The door looks untouched and as she takes a step forward, it creaks open several inches. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looks around. She knows this is the dumbest thing she’s done since she decided to come to Hell, but, knowing what is behind Lucifer’s Hell door is more tempting than anything she’s ever known. Maybe it would help her understand what happened, why he won’t leave. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe she can fix it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She toes a boot at the puddle of metal, but finds it solid and cool. The door is the same, the metal rough and almost icy under her touch. She pulls it open and steps into the darkness. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Strangely, she finds herself in the elevator at Lux. The soft amber light is comfortingly familiar and she’s relieved when the doors open on Lucifer’s penthouse, the lights all dimmed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Someone is sitting at the piano and she’s so happy to see him she almost forgets she was angry. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucifer!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The lights fade up a little, and it’s immediately obvious the person at the piano isn’t Lucifer. He turns on the piano bench and looks a little surprised to see her too actually. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stands slowly, straightening his vest. He’s a small man, salt and pepper hair and a smug kind of face. He clasps his hands in front of him like he’s talking to a small child and Chloe immediately dislikes him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She takes a step back toward the elevator, only to find the doors closed. When she hits the button, it doesn’t light up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not what you expected?” The man says, and ugh, even his voice is patronizing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe turns back to him slowly, surveying the room with a careful eye. She shakes her head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man shrugs. “Hell...adapts. This used to be Lucifer’s Hell, but I think it will suit you just fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe presses back against the elevator doors, “I- what?” Me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Forgive me,” the man says, “I got ahead of myself. I’m Uriel, Lucifer’s brother.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looks put out when Chloe doesn’t reply. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Obviously, I’m an angel. I work in patterns, probabilities. I caused your car accident.” He gives a little flourish like she’s supposed to applaud him or something. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you’re an angel, then why are you in Hell?” Chloe says, trying to keep her voice steady. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something like rage crosses Uriel’s face and then it goes as quickly as it came. “Oh, I’m not...Lucifer murdered me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Chloe breathes out, feeling again that horrible swaying vertigo. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well,” Uriel says, rolling his eyes, “I may have been trying to kill you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“W-why would you want to kill me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Uriel rolls his hands, like, </span>
  <em>
    <span>too long, too boring</span>
  </em>
  <span>. “To prove a point.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He killed you, to protect me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He didn’t just kill me. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>destroyed</span>
  </em>
  <span> me. Poof. Gone from existence.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then how are you here?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Uriel’s face goes sharp and flinty. “I already told you, I’m not. This is your Hell now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought this was Lucifer’s door. Why would it be mine?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t you know?” Uriel teases. “You know, don’t you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe stares at the floor, unable to meet Uriel’s horrible grinning face any longer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s my fault,” she whispers, the words jumping from her mouth. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe isn’t sure how much time passes. Uriel rifles through Lucifer’s fridge, sniffs a couple of bottles of whiskey, plunks out a few songs on the piano with none of Lucifer’s grace. He seems content to let her meltdown on her own. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’s long since sunk to the floor by the elevator, no longer able to remember why she’s here or how she got here. The only thing she can think of is how it’s her fault, all her fault. Trixie curled up with grief, Lucifer’s beautiful face twisted in despair, the face of every person she wasn’t able to save. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s my fault,” She whispers, over and over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I left Trixie alone.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Uriel echoes her. “Abandoned her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s my fault.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s your fault.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I made Lucifer a murderer.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A murderer.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“For me, he murdered for me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“For you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You and Pierce. What else has he done to protect me?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because of you”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He hates himself, because of me.” she chokes on the last word, tears finally pouring down her face. She clutches at her chest, feeling like she’s in a vice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because of you,” Uriel whispers, right in her ear, and she jerks back, knocking her head hard into the wall. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Uriel is too close to her now, his face twisted viciously. Blood runs over his lips and he coughs, splattering her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is all your fault,” he chokes out, grabbing her arms as she tries to cover her face, his grip painful. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t mean to!” She screams, trying to kick out at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She feels weak and shaky, suddenly exhausted. All her training has fled from her head, every piece of self-defense, all her courage, and she feels like nothing but a wet noodle being flung around. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Uriel screams in her face, something she can’t understand anymore, more blood splattering her skin. Without warning, he heaves her away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The time she spends in the air feels like forever. Like she’s spent a lifetime, just floating, the breeze ruffling her hair, weightless. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She forgets where she is. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a while, she forgets who she is. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then, black. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She comes to with a wrenching gasp, followed immediately by blinding pain. Everything floods back in a dizzying rush, the scent of copper and whiskey overwhelming. It takes a long time for her to focus enough to realize she’s sitting in the glass and liquid remnants of Lucifer’s wall of expensive whiskey bottles. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As if short circuited, her brain reverts immediately to logical tasks. She’s been cut badly, but, probably not fatally. Little pieces of glass pull at every part of her body, but she doesn’t think there are any large shards. Her brain takes stock of injuries, almost detached, trying to fill in the lost time, reorient itself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She uses the edge of the bar to haul herself up, gritting her teeth against a scream. The penthouse is dim again, Uriel nowhere to be seen. She jumps at a sudden grinding, tinkling sound behind her and whips around just in time to see the wall put itself back together, like a movie reversing in slow motion. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The glass in her body vanishes with a painful tug, but the damage does not. She uses the counter for balance, slowly stepping around it, trying to maintain a grip with all the blood on her hands, and peers further into the penthouse.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uriel?” She calls, almost a whisper, worried invoking his name will bring him back from wherever he came. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She claps a hand over her mouth against a scream when he appears at the piano once more, popping out of thin air. He turns back to her, no longer bleeding, the smug smile firmly back in place. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tsk tsk,” he admonishes, “more blood on Lucifer’s hands.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The tears burn in her throat once more. She’s tired and lost and scared. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“W-what, what does that even mean? You did this to me!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Uriel plunks a few of the keys badly, “he’ll blame himself you got lost. Hey, maybe he’ll even get stuck here with you. You can torment each other for eternity!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” Chloe chokes out, nearly losing her grip on the bar top and crashing to the floor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe he can kill me and then you!” Uriel says gleefully, “Over and over for the rest of time. Wading in pools of blood, hating himself. The fate he always deserved.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He does not!” She screams, “I won’t let you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This time, she does go crashing to the floor, sliding in her own blood. Uriel chuckles, suddenly above her, pulling her up by her hair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not even here. You’re fighting yourself. You are fighting your own conscience. Pathetic.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe grabs at his hands, working to get her feet under her. The anger rises in her like a bonfire roaring to life and it’s what she needed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She brings her foot into his knee with all the force she can muster. He stumbles back, letting her go, and almost sending her tumbling to the floor again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gonna fight now?” He mocks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pushes her hair out of her face, trying to wipe her bloody hands on her jeans, sidestepping out of the slick spot gingerly. The rage is like fire in her chest, Trixie’s face floating in her mind, and Chloe knows now she will pull down the walls of Hell with her bare hands if she had to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not my fault,” she repeats through gritted teeth, “and it’s not Lucifer’s.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Uriel scoffs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He acted to protect me and I can’t control him, the same he can’t control me. We are our own people. We are just trying to survive, to protect those who are important to us. No one deserves to be punished for that.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Uriel is starting to look mad. A trickle of blood runs from his nose. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d have killed you myself,” Chloe says at the exact same moment Uriel screams, “NO!” and leaps at her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, her entire field of view is filled with white feathers, so luminous they’re blinding. She blinks rapidly as tears spring to her eyes, her hands coming up over her face. It’s like her mind has been wiped blank, her body aching with pain she can’t place. The whole world fades out to white as she latches on to the last sane memory she has.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer on the balcony that night, his wings brushing LA’s horizon, haloed in the soft glow of his city.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She shakes her head, stumbling back, and crunches into something hard, scraping her elbow and hand painfully. She scrambles for purchase on what feels like rock, but she still can’t see past the whiteout in her vision.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Someone touches her and she jerks away, striking out, trying to scramble backwards but running into a solid wall abruptly and painfully. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Detective.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her head snaps up, “Lucifer?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shh,” he says softly, “It’s okay, it’s me. You’re safe.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-is it really you?” She’s shaking so hard she can barely get the words out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s me, love.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He touches her wrists gently, making her flinch, but she doesn’t pull away. He runs his hands up her arms to her shoulder, his touch firmer as he goes. She can feel the cool metal of his ring against her skin, smell the undertone of wine on his breath. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucifer, I can’t see.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” he says, sounding sad, “I’m afraid unchecked divinity can do that. We need to get you to a healer.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Uriel’s scream suddenly jumps to the forefront of her mind, “Wait, Lucifer, you can’t be here!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pushes at him, but he doesn’t move. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucifer!” She is panicked now, “It’s your Hell door. Uriel- he…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer scoops her up without warning and she only half manages to stifle her scream. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A little warning would be nice,” she says, thumping his chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Apologies,” he says, but he sounds blank, empty, “I didn’t wish to stand outside that door any longer than I had to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her head comes around, wishing she could see his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We got out?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s quiet for a long moment, made longer by the fact that she can’t see his expression.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes. I will have the demons reseal the door with a little more creativity this time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A tense silence falls, broken only by the muted, steady thud of Lucifer’s feet on the stones. Chloe sways gently in his arms at the movement and a sleepy heaviness fights against the adrenaline still lacing her veins. She lets her head fall against his chest and sighs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Penny for your thoughts, Detective?” he asks gently. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She only has a million questions, but they all somehow seem too exhausting. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How did you find me?” she settles for. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This time he sighs, his chest heaving under her cheek. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maze could sense your distress and, though I hate it, I’m tied to this place. It was not difficult once I looked. My apologies I did not come sooner.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How long was I there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not more than 10 or 15 of your minutes but I imagine it felt much longer for you. It’s how this place works.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the brief pause she can hear him grinding his teeth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry I left you for even a second.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She weakly pats his chest, “I left you. It’s not your fault.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His grip on her tightens slightly. “This is my domain, I knew better than to let you wander it alone. I sent you away and you suffered at the hands of my guilt.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uriel?” she whispers between them.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t reply but his steps falter slightly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you for keeping me safe,” she says, his breath catching in his chest at her words. His guilt is his own to navigate, but she can make sure he knows she doesn’t blame him for any of it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s wrong with her? What did you do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe’s head swings around pointlessly at the sound of Maze’s furious voice, the familiar sound somehow comforting anyway. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maze, it’s okay,” she says, surprised at how rough her own voice sounds.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There is a muted thud of flesh on flesh and she feels Lucifer jerk slightly, letting out a sharp breath. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maze,” he growls, “could you possibly wait for violence until I’m not holding the Detective?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maze, it’s not his fault, I wandered off,” Chloe adds, turning her head to try and figure out where the demon is standing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maze snarls, “cause he let you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer jerks again, harder this time, and Chloe let’s out an embarrassing squeak as she’s swung around. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mazikeen!” Lucifer roars and Chloe feels the sound to her very bones. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s wrong with her Lucifer? I brought her all the way to Hell unscathed and she’s with you for five minutes and it goes to...well, HELL!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You call this unscathed?” He snaps back but Chloe can’t see what he is referring to or Maze’s wordless response. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello? Still right here?” she mumbles. Lucifer holds her minutely tighter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The Detective wandered into my Hell loop. Rescuing took a little more...force...than I anticipated and it’s left her temporarily blinded. Her wounds need tending as well. We need a healer.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And where do you suggest we find one in Hell?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer growls again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine,” Maze bites out, “Aila could probably do it, but she’s back with Percy. The tunnels made her sick.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe can feel Lucifer tense beneath her. It’s strange to be cradled like this, frustrating, but she’s grateful enough for the sense of safety, of his bodily desire to keep her close and guarded, that she is hesitant to draw attention to herself in case he does set her down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where is Hades?” Lucifer finally asks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who knows. Perse says he’s been traveling with Thanatos a lot.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer scoffs, “well, I don’t blame him, wanting some space from that tiny psychopath. I can’t believe you trusted her with the Detective’s safety.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve never trusted any of that lot, but we can hold our own. I even brought backup. It was the only choice you left me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Actually, you could have </span>
  <em>
    <span>chosen</span>
  </em>
  <span> to tell the detective she was insane and left her on the surface.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s not an idiot Lucifer! She would have found a way!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s right here!” Chloe finally snaps, thumping Lucifer on the chest, making him startle beneath her as if he forgot he was holding her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course Detective,” Lucifer says, but he sounds like he’s gritting his teeth, “apologies. Mazikeen, make preparations to leave.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re coming with?” She says, sounding a little surprised. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are strong Maze, but not that strong. Traversing the tunnels will be difficult enough on your own and I expect you’ll need both hands free to fulfill your oath to keep the Detective safe. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But, you won’t go past there, will you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucifer is silent and still. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucifer,” Chloe starts to say, hating how pleading she sounds, but he cuts her off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get what you need Maze, find me when you are ready.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe misses whatever wordless exchange they make and jumps a little when Lucifer turns and starts walking again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Without her sight, the strangeness of Hell seems to dial up tenfold. Every sound is muted and without echo. Lucifer’s footsteps, Chloe’s own breathing, the whispering quality of the air, all damp and lifeless. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The longer the silence stretches, the more impossible it feels to break. Chloe isn’t even sure what she would want to say anyway. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She figures out he’s brought her back to the bedroom by the familiar crackling of the fire and the texture of the silky sheets as he sets her down gently. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wishes again desperately for the gentle peace they found here last night. She knows that Lucifer is still in there somewhere and it’s why she won’t give up on this. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She reaches for him, a little embarrassed by the sound of distress that escapes her as he pulls away, but relief quickly drowns it out when his weight settles on the bed at her side. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chloe?” He says, suddenly anxious, and her heart stutters and picks back up in double time at the sound of her own name. “Are you hurting?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She aches from head to toe, the little cuts all over her body are making themselves known like little pin prick shocks, her skin tacky with dried blood. But, the pain had been far from her mind until he asked and she’s confused by his question until she realizes tears are pouring from her sightless eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His thumbs brush her cheeks gently. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve missed you,” she says simply, leaning into his touch and letting herself this moment of weakness. “I don’t like the thought of you here, alone.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sighs heavily and she starts a little when he rests his forehead to hers. “Know this...there is nowhere I would rather be than at your side. But Hell must have a celestial and I realize now none of my idiot siblings is up to the task. I cannot leave you unprotected.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sob breaks from her without her permission and he pulls her tight to his chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Perhaps I may be of service?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloe’s head shoots up and around so fast she clips Lucifer’s jaw and he swears in surprise. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh go- Lucifer I’m so sorry,” she says, holding her hands out carefully to feel up his chest to his jaw. “Did I hurt you</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s fine,” he says, jaw working under her hands as he tests the movement, “just surprised. Persephone, what is Dad’s name are you doing here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She can smell the heavy, late summer floral scent of Persephone now, invading the room. Chloe’s stomach drops in surprise and dread, twisting her hands into Lucifer’s shirt tightly to keep him close. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As if he can read her thoughts, his arms tighten around her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have a proposal for you Lucifer. I’ve come to offer you a favor.” </span>
</p>
<p></p><div>
  <p> </p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Canon typical violence this chapter. Chloe gets trapped in a Hell loop and her guilt and fears about protecting those she loves is used against her psychologically</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. The Orpheus Path</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>
  <em>On any other face, this grief might be laced with shame or anger, but Lucifer is all misery framed in hope. He looks up at her like he needs her to fix it, to have the answer. Like he trusts her to find him at the bottom, no matter how far he falls. </em>
</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for your patience! I’m a graduate student working two jobs, so I’ll get to this as often as I can. I have over 100 more pages already written, it’s just making the connections between chapters is sometimes where I get stuck. Working hard on this one again, thank you for sticking with me! </p>
<p>Errors are my own. Story set directly at the end of Season 4, just after Lucifer departs. You will need to read previous chapters to follow this story.</p>
<p>Heads up seven up, M rating starts the next chapter (8)!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“A favor?” Lucifer repeats, derision in his voice.</p>
<p>“Even the Devil needs a friend from time to time.” </p>
<p>“Where’s Hades?”</p>
<p>“Gods,” Persephone says with a voice part sarcasm and part longing, “you’d think none of you wanted to see me. He’s busy Luci, probably having a merry time with Thanatos and Hypnos in the human realm. But you know as well as I do, our thrones must have an occupant and I drew something of the short straw.” </p>
<p>“Ah...yes. I suppose I do understand that.”</p>
<p>Persephone sighs deeply, “it has been lonely. Why didn’t you tell me you returned?”</p>
<p>“I wasn’t fit for company,” Lucifer replies after a long, tense moment.</p>
<p>Chloe misses whatever wordless conversation follows, turning her head to look at where she thinks Lucifer’s face is and desperately wishing she could see what is written there. She curls her fingers into his shirt, feeling like a clinging child. </p>
<p>“In any case,” Persephone finally says, “I am here to help.”</p>
<p>“You can heal her?”</p>
<p>Persephone is quiet for a moment and then when she answers, sounds surprised. “Yes, of course. What happened?”</p>
<p>“I was forced to make a rather drastic move to rescue her from a Hell loop. I’m afraid she was injured before I could get to her and I certainly didn’t help her situation.”</p>
<p>“Let me see then.”</p>
<p>Lucifer starts to pull away and Chloe grasps to keep him close. His hands brush over hers gently, and she jumps a little at his lips on her cheekbone. </p>
<p>“It’s fine, I’ll be right here.”</p>
<p>This time when he pulls back, he keeps one of her hands wrapped tightly in his own and squeezes reassuringly when she flinches at Persephone’s touch on her face where his own hands had been a moment before. </p>
<p>Persephone’s hands are searingly hot, her skin soft and velvety where it brushes Chloe’s. The honey and wildflower scent of her is so rich it’s surreal, making Chloe feel lightheaded and dreamy. She clings to her one connection with Lucifer until her fingers are sweaty and shaking. He murmurs something she can’t quite follow, mouth at her temple.</p>
<p>“Chloe,” Persephone says quietly, “it would be better if you could lay down. I’m afraid the healing might make you dizzy.”</p>
<p><em> More dizzy? </em>Chloe thinks incoherently, but she nods. They both help her to lay out on the bed, Persephone radiating heat as she sinks onto the mattress beside Chloe’s hip. </p>
<p>Persephone lays her hands across the plane of Chloe’s collarbones, her touch heavier and hotter by the second until Chloe feels like she’s being crushed down into the mattress, her breath coming in shallow pants. A feeling like crawling vines starts over her ankles and wrists and climbs up her limbs, making her jerk in their grasp. </p>
<p>Lucifer’s touch brushes across her brow, icy now in the wake of Persephone’s heat, pushing her hair back. “It’s okay love.”</p>
<p>Persephone’s crushing hands and the tight vines hold so fast that eventually Chloe can no longer move beyond the tremors that wrack her body. A feeling like static spreads from her fingers and toes and she finds herself holding her breath for long moments, only to gasp in air painfully when she realizes she’s not breathing. </p>
<p>“It’s almost over Chloe, you are doing well.” Persephone says softly. </p>
<p>The painful static spreads into Chloe’s chest and her head swims, lost in the black of her vision. </p>
<p>With a great rush of air, the feeling is gone all at once and Chloe arches up off the bed in surprise. Lucifer has her in his arms immediately, the coolness of his touch a blessed relief against her buzzing skin. </p>
<p>“Detective?” he asks softly, hands gentle and concerned over her shoulders and up her neck and jaw. “Are you alright?”</p>
<p>She carefully brings her own hands up to cover his own, leaning into the touch. Her eyes are watering painfully, but each time she blinks the blackness is a little lighter, until finally his concerned face swims blurrily into view. </p>
<p>She feels the relieved smile split her face without her permission and he offers a broken half-smile in return, relieved too but not free of worry. Her relief dims slightly when she realizes what a mess he is, smeared in blood across his shirt and up his neck and arms, deep circles under his eyes. </p>
<p>“Lucifer!” she exclaims.</p>
<p>“I’m alright, this is mostly yours I’m sorry to say.”</p>
<p>She sighs, relieved once more, but a muscle jumps in his jaw. </p>
<p>“I’ve called for Mazikeen. Now that you are healed you need to leave, immediately.”</p>
<p>Her relief is replaced with a rock. </p>
<p>“What?” she whispers, hating how her voice breaks. </p>
<p>“It’s not safe for you here,” and his face is desperate, eyes flashing with his intensity.</p>
<p>“No!” She very nearly screams, and then draws in a deep breath, more controlled this time. “No, I’m not leaving without you. I’m not leaving you here.”</p>
<p>He grinds his teeth, “please, I don’t wish to fight with you. You are dying here. You cannot stay, I cannot leave. I’ll have Maze drag you out if I must but I would rather that not be your last memory of me.”</p>
<p>“Lucifer, I-” Chloe starts at the same time Persephone says, “Luci, can I talk to you?”</p>
<p>Chloe and Lucifer’s heads whip around to find Persephone standing by, looking strangely shy and small, her hands clasped in front of her. Chloe can tell he forgot Persephone was there as surely as she did. </p>
<p>“In private, perhaps?” Persephone continues. </p>
<p>Lucifer glances back and forth between Persephone and Chloe and Chloe briefly feels something red-hot flare in her chest before his arms tighten around her. </p>
<p>“Whatever you have to say can be said in front of the Detective.”</p>
<p>Persephone watches him a moment, that brief, flickering fury alighting in her face and vanishing just as quickly as before. </p>
<p>“Very well. I propose you hand the care and keeping of Hell over to me.”</p>
<p>Lucifer goes rigid under Chloe’s hands, “what?”</p>
<p>“I can manage the demons as well as you can and the rest of Hell is self-sustaining. I’m honestly surprised you didn’t ask me before now.”</p>
<p>Lucifer scoffs somewhat derisively. “Only a celestial can rule Hell.” </p>
<p>“I am not some water nymph, Lucifer!” Her voice is suddenly ringing like a struck bell, echoing over itself with painful volume, “you will treat me with respect.” </p>
<p>Lucifer swallows, the sarcastic smile abruptly vanishing from his face. </p>
<p>Persephone heaves a shuddering breath and seems to calm, her voice normal again when she speaks. </p>
<p>“I know we’ve had our differences in the past, but please, I would like to help you. I know what it means to be tied to this place.”</p>
<p>Lucifer’s face is unreadable. “And what of your time on the surface?”</p>
<p>Persephone shrugs, “I rarely venture above. Harvest is not what it used to be and Mother has it well in hand. Hades travels often and someone must keep the kingdom, even quiet as it is. Still, the trip from my palace to here is shorter than your trip from the surface and I wouldn’t mind having somewhere a little more...alive...to spend some of my time. Perhaps you can check in and give me a few days off now and again?”</p>
<p>Lucifer’s eyes slide to Chloe’s and though he tries to keep it carefully blank, he cannot hide the gleam that dances there. </p>
<p>“I will think on it,” he finally replies. </p>
<p>“Do not think too much Luci, Chloe does not have long. I could feel as I healed that her tether is weak.”</p>
<p>Until Persephone said it, Chloe hadn’t really noticed how she felt other than relieved to have her eyesight back.  Now that she focuses on it, she realizes her entire body is wracked with shivers, clammy sweat breaking out on her forehead. Lucifer’s blank face breaks, going pinched and guilty as he realizes too. </p>
<p>“Persephone, would you be so kind as to locate Maze? I need to discuss some things with the Detective.”</p>
<p>Persephone does not look happy about being dismissed, but she nods her head politely and pads from the room on her silent feet, still bare and filthy. </p>
<p>He abruptly pulls Chloe in and she squeaks at the movement, his embrace painfully tight. </p>
<p>“Lucifer, what--?”</p>
<p>When he looks at her, his face is wild and confused. </p>
<p>“Lucifer?” She says again, sliding her fingers into his hair, trying to comfort his desperation. “Could it work?”</p>
<p>He grimaces, but leans into her touch anyway. “No. Perhaps. I’m not sure. Persephone certainly cannot claim the throne but she is strong enough to keep the demons in line. However...”</p>
<p>“However?” Chloe whispers, a chill sliding up her spine.</p>
<p>Lucifer’s mouth twists, “she’s rather volatile, as is Hades. Bit flaky the both of them, but as long as the demons stay on this side of the gate, I suppose it’s not an impossible idea. I need to speak with Maze.”</p>
<p>Lucifer looks back and forth from her to the door, his hands tight around her but his face unsure. She tightens her grip in his hair just a little in answer and his stern face breaks, something wanting and soft just beneath. </p>
<p>She kisses him roughly, desperately, with all the same emotion he presses into her skin with broad hands. It’s more teeth and gripping fingers than kiss, hot and breathless, and she crawls up into his lap shamelessly to be closer. </p>
<p>When she lets him go, breath heaving in her chest, he’s delightfully red-faced and debauched. His hair is sticking out on one side, his eyes closed, a half-smile crunching his red mouth. For a long moment, he doesn’t breath at all, and then he lets all his air out in one gusty sigh.</p>
<p>“I’m not leaving you here,” she says, trying to infuse her voice with every ounce of authority she’s ever possessed. She fills her own chest with the image of a Queen speaking to her King, the kind of Queen she’d want to be in her dizziest daydreams. She rubs a possessive thumb over his lips and his mouth opens for her, “and this is why, Lucifer. We’ll figure it out, whatever it takes, but I’m not leaving you here alone again.”</p>
<p>His hands range up the plane of her back, fingers spreading across her shoulders blades, holding her with something like reverence. His eyes never stray from her face, and the sheer wonder he regards her with makes her feel more powerful than she has in her entire life. </p>
<p>“Chloe,” he says simply, all the answer she has ever needed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She encourages him to go find Maze and Persephone, assuring him she won’t leave the palace. His touch and his eyes linger as he departs and Chloe has to sit and press her hands to her hot faces for several minutes before she feels like she can focus on the task at hand. </p>
<p>She’s surprised to find her backpack at the foot of the bed, touched and somewhat alarmed that Lucifer took the time to grab it from the Hell Loop. It’s stained ugly brown-red with her own dried blood across one corner and a small shard of glass tumbles to the floor when she picks it up, but otherwise appears untouched. </p>
<p>There was never much in it to begin with, but she manages to rummage around to the bottom and bring up one last crumbled protein bar. She methodically shoves pieces in her mouth as she moves around, laying out her last shirt with socks and underwear, snapping out her filthy jeans to get the worst of the ash off, scrubbing at her hair and finger combing it back into a tight french braid, the best it’s going to get at the moment.</p>
<p>All a part of Hell’s particular ability to leave one wrong footed, filthy and uncomfortable, and without any creature comforts to speak of. </p>
<p>She moves to the bathroom, filling a basin with water and stripping down to scrub roughly at her skin with a damp linen as fast as she can, hissing the entire time. She carefully doesn’t look in the mirror, letting her vision blur over the canvas of bruises and scrapes that has become her body. </p>
<p>By the time she eases back into the hallway, backpack slung over one shoulder, she’s feeling marginally more human though more exhausted than ever. The halls of Lucifer’s palace (<em> prison </em>, her mind whispers) are still and empty around her, looking exactly the same in every direction. </p>
<p>She’s just about to turn to the left, when an unlit sconce bursts into flame to her right, making her jump. As she watches the fire lick upwards, a second sconce further down the hall to the right also comes to life. A few hesitant steps in that direction reveals the next sconce after that, and then onward, flickering to life one by one and beckoning her along with the feel of Lucifer cocking an eyebrow and crooking a finger.</p>
<p>Sure enough, when the hallway finally ends she finds herself in the kitchen; Maze perched comfortably on the counter, picking at her nails with a knife, and Lucifer looking relieved and annoyed all at once. </p>
<p>“Are you certain about this?”</p>
<p>“Oh, now you ask what I think?” Maze shoots.</p>
<p>Lucifer visibly bristles at the tone and Chloe asks, “sure about what?” before he can continue the vicious cycle of sarcasm they always seem to get trapped in. </p>
<p>Now Lucifer looks guilty, half turned toward Maze and half watching Chloe cross the room. </p>
<p>“My liege,” Maze says, derision in every letter, “needs help keeping his Kingdom together...as usual.” </p>
<p>“Yes, thank you Mazikeen,” Lucifer snaps, so much like his old self that Chloe nearly stumbles. </p>
<p>“What’s the plan?” Chloe asks, settling into a rough stone chair that passes for a bar stool next to Maze’s spot on the counter and trying to hide how strangely out of breath she suddenly feels. </p>
<p>Lucifer eyes her carefully, but doesn’t comment. “Maze thinks Persephone cannot be left on her own. She’s offered to stay and help keep the peace, so to speak.”</p>
<p>Chloe’s eyes jump to Maze, “we’re not leaving you-”</p>
<p>Maze cuts her off, “relax Decker. It’s not on a permanent basis. Just have to make a few points clear to the slimier characters in Hell before we leave it to the flower queen.”</p>
<p>“You best hope she doesn’t hear you say that.” Lucifer murmurs. Maze only rolls her eyes in reply. </p>
<p>As if called, Persephone rounds the corner just then. She comes to an abrupt halt at the sight of them, her face souring somewhat. Chloe can imagine the picture they make, heads bowed together in seemingly conspiratorial whispers. </p>
<p>“Affairs in order then?” she asks with false lightness. </p>
<p>Lucifer seems to brace himself, squaring his shoulders and straightening his posture. “Maze will remain here to serve you for the time being, she knows the landscape well and will keep you safe.”</p>
<p>The room seems to tilt under Chloe’s feet, a rippling wave of vertigo distorting Persephone for the barest moment. </p>
<p>“I have no need of a babysitter, Lucifer, or did you forget who protected you in the first place?”</p>
<p>“Yes, I remember perfectly well, thank you” Lucifer snaps sarcastically and then seems to compose himself. “You are powerful Persephone, I am not doubting that. But you are not a celestial. Maze was created from the fabric of this land and she exists to protect the throne. Please allow her to do her job, it would give me peace of mind.”</p>
<p>Persephone bristles a moment longer, the distortion rippling outward before fading away. Chloe tries to subtly clutch at the countertop but doesn’t miss the questioning look Maze shoots at her. </p>
<p>“Lucifer,” Maze says gravely, one eye on Chloe who tries to shake her head, signaling to Maze she’s fine. Maze looks confused but still changes track, “this is wildly boring, can you two stop the dick measuring contest and make a decision?”</p>
<p>“Do you wish to test my patience, Mazikeen?” Persephone snaps, “You’ll only kill your human faster and ensure yours and Lucifer’s continued imprisonment in this place. Do be my guest.”</p>
<p>Lucifer and Maze both look to Chloe, who tries again not to look like she’s only holding herself up by sheer strength of will. Her fingers are getting sweaty on the edge of the countertop. </p>
<p>They turn back to each other, exchanging some unspoken conversation. Lucifer gestures vaguely and Maze snarls under her breath in reply. </p>
<p>“Perhaps in literally any spoken language, for the rest of us?” Persephone says sarcastically. </p>
<p>Lucifer makes one last gesture and narrowly dodges the kick Maze sends at his face. </p>
<p>“Very well,” Lucifer finally says and Maze scoffs, “I will gratefully accept your offer Persephone, but it’s not up for debate that Maze will stay with you for the time being.” </p>
<p>“Very well,” Persephone says, still a bit cold.</p>
<p>“Great!” Maze finishes, with a loud clap. “Now that that’s settled, get Decker out of here and for the love of Malebolge, take a fucking bath.”</p>
<p>Lucifer gathers Chloe by the arm like he’s going to haul her off and she pulls back. </p>
<p>“Wait, Maze, we can’t just leave you here. We promised we wouldn’t-”</p>
<p>Maze grips Chloe by the forearm, leaning her head in close. </p>
<p>“I got this Decker. This time it’s my choice and I’ll be fine. I’ll be back in your hair before you know it.”</p>
<p>Chloe sighs, “how will we know when you need help getting back?”</p>
<p>Maze grins, “it’s cool, we’ve got a plan. Tell Trixie I‘ll be back soon and that she better be practicing with those knives.”</p>
<p>Chloe huffs a laugh and draws Maze into a hug before she can pull away. Maze tenses for a moment, but finally deflates a bit, patting half-heartedly at Chloe’s back. “Alright Decker, that’s enough cooties for today.”</p>
<p>“I mean it. You come back to us Maze.”</p>
<p>Maze salutes jauntily as Lucifer takes Chloe’s hand in his own. </p>
<p>“Go quickly and with blessings,” Persephone says, Maze waving from beside her as Lucifer leads them out the door and back into the twilight of Hell. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Every path and door and wall in Hell continues to look the same, over and over and over. </p>
<p>Despite this, Lucifer walks with determined purpose, taking lefts and rights that seem intentional, no landmarks or guides to speak of. </p>
<p>Occasionally, he will pause abruptly, Chloe nearly slamming into him. Each time this happens, the shadows jump and skuttle ahead of them and Chloe can only imagine the vermin and demons that are scrambling out of their King’s way.</p>
<p>“Denizens of Hell know better than to get in my way,” Lucifer says with satisfied power as they charge through.  </p>
<p>On one occasion, the shadow takes much larger, more terrifying shapes, a veritable swarming nest of buzzing, furious energy. Lucifer’s standoff lasts several long minutes, but finally the legion seems to melt into the cracks of the world, though the angry buzzing remains. </p>
<p>“Is it much further?” Chloe finally asks over Lucifer’s tense silence. She doesn’t want to come off as whiny, but she finds she has to lean on him more and more to keep her feet moving and she’s starting to get concerned. </p>
<p>Lucifer pauses and looks down at her, seeming to notice her clammy countenance for the first time. Then he looks side to side, upwards, and to the left once more. He reaches for the door set into the wall there and before Chloe can urge him not too, he yanks it open to reveal...another hallway, seemingly identical to the one they currently stand in. </p>
<p>“As much as I hate this place, I know it,” Lucifer explains, leading her through and letting the door clang shut behind them, “Maze thinks I don’t pay attention, and it’s true I’d prefer to leave the details to someone else, but Hell heaves breath around me like a living creature and I know her. Every rock and pillar and ugly creature. The only thing I fear of Hell is being trapped here, or far worse, you being trapped here. There is no door here that does not answer to me.”</p>
<p>“Not even your own?” she asks quietly, as they stalk onwards once more. </p>
<p>“No, not even my own.”</p>
<p>Within minutes, they are back at the mouth of the tunnel to the Underworld, the River Styx gurgling away from where it drops under the stone path. The tunnel mouth seems to contract and swallow once more and Chloe wonders if she’ll ever be free of that particular nightmare. </p>
<p>Lucifer doesn’t not pause, stepping directly into the tunnel, his hand tight around Chloe’s. As they enter, Hell seems to vanish from behind them into the same endless darkness of before. Though she knows first hand Lucifer’s strength, it seems somehow wrong and deeply terrifying to be here without Maze.</p>
<p>Lucifer does not bother to light a torch this time, and Chloe is surprised to find she doesn’t need it, the steps automatic and endless. At some point she thinks she might actually fall asleep on her feet, only Lucifer’s insistent grip tugging her along. </p>
<p>A suddenly scrambling in the dark that is not their own halts them both in their tracks and she startles back to wakefulness, adrenaline surging. She goes to speak and jerks when a hand comes over her mouth in the dark. </p>
<p>“Trust me,” he whispers, a barely there breath, and guides her through the dark to press against the wall. She twists her hands into his shirt like a lifeline, wishing now she had light to orient herself. </p>
<p>The black around them is so deep she can’t even tell if her eyes are open, a true, nightmarish void, but she can feel the cool metal of his ring against her lips, the rise and fall of his chest as he breaths, calm and slow, and manages to quell the panic rising in her chest.</p>
<p>“Close your eyes a moment, I’m going to give us some light.”</p>
<p>Chloe nods under his touch, closing her eyes until she can feel her lashes touch her cheek to be sure they are closed. </p>
<p>She startles slightly when a soft glow lights the inside of her eyelids red, but Lucifer’s grip on her does not waver. </p>
<p>“Slowly now,” he murmurs, stepping back a little. </p>
<p>She cracks one eye open and then the other, blinking against the pale light, still so jarring after the complete darkness of before. Lucifer has his wings out and Chloe’s eyes graze over them in wonder. </p>
<p>They glow softly, the shimmering light of an early morning star. A white like she’s never seen before and achingly beautiful, even where they are visibly mussed and damaged. She longs to get her fingers into the feathers, wonders if they might be soft or sharp, at the way Lucifer would react to her touch…</p>
<p>She realizes that she’s staring, and blinks quickly, the wings a ghostly after-image even with her eyes closed. When she finally looks to his face though, he’s not paying attention in the slightest, his head turned to stare down the passage with something like concern pinching his brow. </p>
<p>The light extends only a few feet in either direction and she couldn’t say which direction is which if her life depended on it. The little portion of the tunnel they can see is the same as it was on her first journey this way, sharp red-black lava rock on all sides and the distant, syrupy bubbling of the river just out of sight. </p>
<p>“What is it?” she whispers.</p>
<p>His head swings back the other way and then forward again, sweeping slowly.</p>
<p>“Lucifer?” Her voice no more than a breath now. </p>
<p>But just as she says his name, an impossible echo warbles from the darkness, twisted and singsong. </p>
<p>“<em> Luuuuucifer.”  </em></p>
<p>The light abruptly goes out, leaving Chloe with stars in her eyes. He turns and backs her into the rough stone wall so that she is pressed tightly to his back, one of his hands coming around to touch her leg. </p>
<p>She opens her mouth to speak but he shushes her quietly, squeezing his grip in warning. </p>
<p>“I thought I smelled something bad, Achlys. Can’t say I’ve missed you.”</p>
<p>His voice takes on the same echoing quality of the voice in the dark, so that it seems to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. </p>
<p>There is a wicked, giggling laugh accompanied by the rough scramble of something that sounds like it has too many legs. Chloe presses her cheek to the space between Lucifer’s shoulder blades, trying to concentrate on his measured, even breaths and match them with her own. </p>
<p>“Don’t be rude, Lucifer.” The voice chides, louder but still directionless. </p>
<p>“You are not welcome here. Leave us be.”</p>
<p>A fine tremor starts up in Chloe’s body, the black seeming to spin and twist around them. She twists her hands tightly in the back of his shirt, trying to keep calm, but this sudden, unexpected grief rattles in her chest and drips from her mouth in broken gasps without her permission. </p>
<p>“Chloe?”</p>
<p>His voice is distant, muted, but she can still feel his grip on her leg, growing tighter. She tries to tell him she’s fine, but when she opens her mouth to speak, the taste of tears she didn’t know were pouring down her face stops the words on her tongue. </p>
<p>The scrambling sound comes again, definitely closer this time. Despite the tears pouring freely down her face, Chloe tries to peer into the darkness, looking for any sign of the creature stalking them. </p>
<p>There is only black...and then. </p>
<p>Between one blink and the next, an absolute nightmare materializes out of the darkness. A face, lit with a sickly gray-green glow, just inches from Chloe’s own, mouth blackened and eyes blacker. </p>
<p>There is no room left in Chloe’s chest to scream, jerking back violently and yanking Lucifer’s shirt with her. </p>
<p>“Wha-” he exclaims, but the face and it’s ghostly light vanish as quickly as they appeared. Chloe practically claws up Lucifer’s back, feeling like she will shake apart with the effort not to scream. </p>
<p>“A face,” she pants into his shirt, “there was, someone, black mouth, oh fuck-”</p>
<p>She swallows, chokes, coughs roughly. He turns slightly toward her, trying to hold her while shielding her, and she realizes with growing trepidation that he’s trembling too. </p>
<p>“Sod this,” he mutters, almost to himself, and then louder, “you better make yourself scarce Achlys, before I lose my temper.”</p>
<p>“Lucifer, Lucifer, Lucifer,” the voice burbles in the darkness. “So sad. So broken. Holds so tight he breaks his toys.”</p>
<p>Light explodes in the cavern accompanied by a rough scream and, for a moment, Chloe is sure she’s gone blind again. The scream breaks off into distressed wailing and everything is a haze through Chloe’s watering eyes, but the brightness of the light dissolves into more muted flickering orange and red and she’s relieved to find everything blurred but definitely visible.</p>
<p>Lucifer has lit the river on fire, a wall of flame extending as far as the eye can see in either direction. The heat fills the tunnel, choking and sweet, the black of the river reflecting the light back in a dizzying swirl. </p>
<p>His body heaves under her hands and when she looks up, his eyes glow red, but whether by his own power or reflection of the fire she’s not sure. She follows his line of sight and startles at the image of the monster from the dark, just a few yards from them, huddled against the cavern wall. </p>
<p>Achlys has her arms up over her head, twisted in her matted hair, rocking. She casts darting glances at the fire, seemingly unable to stand the light, and every time her head moves Chloe can see long, bloody gouges glinting on her cheeks. </p>
<p>Everything about her screams neglect. Her long broken nails, the fine layer of ashy dust that covers her hair and body and sheds in little falls every time she moves, the painful gaunt line of her body distorted at her swollen knees and elbows. When she looks up at Lucifer, her black eyes are red-rimmed and swollen, tears pouring freely down her face as she hisses angrily. </p>
<p>“Make it stop,” she snarls.</p>
<p>“I won’t.” Lucifer snarls back, “I warned you Achlys.”</p>
<p>She staggers to her feet, shielding her face with one hand, a horror unfolding. She’s death if Chloe’s ever seen it, protruding bones and decay, clad only in tattered rags. </p>
<p>As Achlys rises, Lucifer takes a minute step back, nearly trodding on Chloe’s toes, and she presses her hands to him in reassurance. He seems to firm just a little under her touch, but she can’t tell anymore who is shaking harder, him or herself. Tears are still pouring unhindered from her own eyes and she wipes as them desperately, needing to see clearly. </p>
<p>Achlys looks deeply miserable, but something like triumph is creeping into her eyes. Her next step forward causes Lucifer to crush back into Chloe once more. </p>
<p>“Oh, Lucifer,” Achly’s dry, scratchy voice is lit with delight, “such sorrow you carry. It’s never touched you quite like this before.”</p>
<p>Her eyes drift over Chloe who Lucifer unsubtly tries to shield from view. Achly’s mouth blooms into a maw of sharp, filthy teeth, a nightmare parody of a smile. </p>
<p>“Could it be?” she murmurs, and she drops to all fours, creeping along the ground towards them, “star-crossed love?”</p>
<p>As Achly’s creeps forward, the darkness at the edges of the cavern seems to fold in and follow her, swallowing the fire of the river until it is nothing but a smoulder. </p>
<p>“Lucifer,” she hisses, “what do we do?”</p>
<p>But he doesn’t respond. From where he has pressed her to the wall she can only see a silver of his face, the line of his jaw so tight that the veins stand out on his neck.</p>
<p>“Lucifer?” she asks again, a little louder and with a gentle tug at the back of his shirt. </p>
<p>Without warning, he crashes to his knees like a marionette with the strings cut. Chloe can’t do more than shout wordlessly, barely managing to catch him by the shoulders before he keels over on his face. </p>
<p>Chloe darts a frantic look at Achlys who has paused to watch them, her body still contorted into a horrific crawl over the sharp rocks. A fleeting part of her brain manages to make a hysterical Gollum reference and that’s when she knows she’s gone so far beyond afraid that her brain has short-circuited. </p>
<p>Lucifer faceplants into her stomach, nearly bowling her over, his arms coming up around her waist as he burrows into her arms. </p>
<p>“Lucifer, wha-” but the words are lost when she realizes he’s sobbing. Shoulders shaking, her shirt front damp with tears, his fingers pressed deeply to the small of her back. </p>
<p>As with the Hell loop, Chloe finds that in the face of Lucifer’s distress, her own rattling grief and fear and guilt seem to collapse and coalesce into diamond-hard fury, a solid, anchoring weight in her stomach that serves to quell the shaking in her limbs. </p>
<p>For each heave of Lucifer’s shoulders under her hands, the fire in her burns hotter. She hates Achlys with every bone in her body: for putting the Devil on his knees, for giving Lucifer cause to feel this way, for taunting them in the dark like a cat toying with her prey.</p>
<p>Achlys creeps a few more distorted paces forwarded, looking triumphant.</p>
<p>“Get. The Hell. Away from Us.” Chloe says through tightly gritted teeth. Lucifer squeezes a bit harder and she pats his hair soothingly. </p>
<p>Achlys shrinks back a little, head swiveling on her neck in curiosity. The more Chloe looks at her, the more Achlys seems to stretch and distort, less human looking by the second. </p>
<p>When Achlys starts moving again, the fire on the water begins to sputter and die, the bright white-yellow shifting to a dim red-orange with every inch Achlys gains. Lucifer’s tangible grief becomes something else under her hands, panicked and clammy, his desperation writ in the way he presses himself into her skin. </p>
<p>Chloe keeps one hand in his hair and draws her gun with the other, though she knows in her gut it’s not going to work. Achlys’s teeth chatter in a horrible mockery of laughter at the sight of the firearm.</p>
<p>“Chloe, Chloe, Chloe,” she chides, in that same burbling voice she’d spoken Lucifer’s name in the dark, and Chloe doesn’t have time to wonder how this monster knows her name. She scuttles a few steps closer, teeth flashing into view as Chloe flinches back. </p>
<p>“One more step and I shoot,” Chloe replies, gritting her teeth against the way her voice wants to shake. </p>
<p>Achlys barks out a sound that must be a laugh but sounds more like a shriek, dragging her nails down her cheeks too roughly and sending a fresh wave of tears and blood dripping from her jaw. </p>
<p>“Humans,” she intones, head swiveling, “with your biting metal and metal walls and metal locks, thinking you can protect yourself behind it. And still the sorrow drips in, the misery in all the cracks.”</p>
<p>Chloe learned long ago not to telegraph or hesitate her movements. She squeezes a shot off without a blink, embedding itself neatly in Achlys shoulder with a meaty thud. Achlys flinches, teeth snapping, but it is Lucifer startling roughly under her hands that draws her attention. </p>
<p>He remains the most heart-wrenching kind of blurry mess. Something she’s only seen echoed before in his sleepless nights after Father Frank and during the Pierce debacle, but this is the root of it, laid bare and raw at her feet. She wonders if anyone in the history of time has ever seen him like this, the depth of the chasm he’s always scrambling at the edges of. </p>
<p>On any other face, this grief might be laced with shame or anger, but Lucifer is all misery framed in hope. He looks up at her like he needs her to fix it, to have the answer. Like he trusts her to find him at the bottom no matter how far he falls. </p>
<p>And it’s true, isn’t it? Here they are at the very bottom of all things and still she has no doubt she will do whatever it takes to deliver him from here safely. </p>
<p>Achlys’ teeth chatter again, drawing Chloe’s attention back. Keeping on eye on Achlys’ creeping form, Chloe leans down to whisper in Lucifer’s ear. </p>
<p>“I need you to let me go for a moment,” she says softly, “I’ll be back, I promise. I can’t keep us both safe like this.”</p>
<p>Lucifer’s grip tightens momentarily and then slides away. He can’t seem to move, still on his knees and slowly curling in on himself, but he gives her the room to maneuver between him and Achlys. </p>
<p>Chloe brings her gun up again and Achlys laughs. </p>
<p>“Silly girl, I told you-” but her bragging is cut off when Chloe fires again, this time catching her in the thigh. For a brief, breath-held moment they both stare at the ragged wound with stunned surprise, before blood wells and spills at the exact same moment an ear-piercing wail spills from Achlys’ mouth. </p>
<p>Achlys’ scream is fury and misery, all tied up in a maelstrom of sound echoing in the cavern. Lucifer lets out a miserable sob in reply and Chloe turns back to find him with his hands over his ears, his face screwed up in pain. </p>
<p>When Chloe looks down at her hands, one still wrapped around the familiar handle of her gun, they are glowing softly golden. </p>
<p>Achlys snarls, and Chloe looks up in time just to see her lunge. </p>
<p>By virtue of being a cop, people always seem to think that Chloe will fight by the books, but it’s Dan who’s always been about form and precision. </p>
<p>Chloe, on the other hand, fights to survive. </p>
<p>There is no time to get her gun arm up, so she lets it scatter behind and away, out of both of their reaches. Chloe gets filthy nails raked down her cheek for her trouble, but rebounds with a solid kick to Achlys’ shin that sets them both skittering apart, breath heaving. </p>
<p>They waver left to right, the guttering light of the river on one side, the wall of the cavern on the other, and Chloe not willing to let Achlys get around her to Lucifer. </p>
<p>Lucifer makes a broken, stuttering sound and she glances back only a moment to find him curled up on the ground, a hand reached out to her. “P-poison,” he finally manages to choke out, tears still streaming from red eyes.</p>
<p>Chloe’s eyes dart back to find a silvery mist billowing out from Achlys who is looking both gleeful and savagely viscous all at once. Chloe stumbles back from the creeping cloud, but in truth there is nowhere to go without Lucifer, a path she’s starting to suspect would kill her just as surely as Achlys. </p>
<p>The rocks screech and she catches Lucifer trying to drag himself toward her over sharp stone, panic in every line of his face. She wants nothing more than to go to him, but she decides in that moment that she’s not dying on the floor of this cave and neither is he.</p>
<p>Chloe drops her backpack to the ground and pulls her overshirt off, bunching it up over her nose and mouth. With her other hand, she draws the long knife Maze had gifted her from it’s sheath on her thigh. She’s never been one to wait around for death to meet her. </p>
<p>She’s the one to lunge for Achlys this time. Her blade meets the resistance of Achly’s waxy skin, slicing deep, and Achlys’ resulting scream is right in Chloe’s face, her mouth a gaping maw of broken teeth and blackened gums. </p>
<p>Chloe stumbles back and trips to the ground but Achlys follows on roiling limbs, disjointed and inhuman. The knife skitters from Chloe’s shaking fingers and she only just manages to get a boot up between them as Achlys’ scrambles over her, the dust piled on her skin flaking off around them in a parody of the ash of Hell, choking Chloe even through the desperate barrier of her shirt. </p>
<p>Hovering over her, Achlys is the definition of a nightmare, reaching and screaming and lunging against Chloe’s last defenses, while Chloe tries to hold her makeshift mask to her face with one hand and scrambles for her lost knife with the other. Chloe thinks she might hear Lucifer say her name, but it’s lost in the roar of blood in her ears and Achlys’ wailing. </p>
<p>In a last desperate move, Achlys rips the cloth from Chloe’s hands, her ragged nails catching Chloe’s face in the process and Chloe kicks upward with everything she has, catching Achlys in the jaw and sending her sprawling back.</p>
<p>Chloe rolls to her feet, swaying dangerously, and brings an arm up over her face, coughing through the dust and mist. She fully expects to feel the sickly sweet poison filling her chest any moment now, but she realizes with a start that she’s glowing again. </p>
<p>Achlys also seems to realize something has changed, because she doesn’t immediately lunge for Chloe again, instead eyeing the gold bubble pressing out from Chloe’s skin with something like hatred. Chloe drops her arm, testing the air, and finds that while the dust still makes her breath catch, there is no poison there. </p>
<p>Success screams in every part of her, burning out the cuts and bruises and exhaustion. She knows the strength in her own hands now and she knows Achlys can’t beat her without her tricks. </p>
<p>Chloe squares up, tightening her stance and anchoring herself in the sliding lava rock. An energy that feels like Maze slides up her throat and past her teeth. </p>
<p>“Try me again, bitch, I’ll show you who really rules down here.”</p>
<p>Achlys screams in manic rage, lunging, and this time Chloe meets her with smooth assurance. She crouches and twists, heaving with her entire body and sending Achly’s wasted form straight into the smouldering river. </p>
<p>Her subsequent piercing wail can’t quite drown out the sickly glop of the thick water closing around her as she sinks like a stone, the sound echoing even as the water closes in over her. </p>
<p>In seconds, all is still again, the only sound the soft crackle of flames and Chloe and Lucifer’s ragged breathing. </p>
<p>When she turns back to Lucifer, he’s already pushing himself into a sitting position, panting heavily, and eyeing her with something like relief and pride. His face is still streaked with tear marks, cutting through the dirt and blood that patinas his skin, and his hands shake as he reaches for her. </p>
<p>Chloe does not hesitate, relieved to have him in the circle of her arms as she helps him stumble to his feet. With each passing second, his trembling lessens, and he scrubs roughly at his face and clothes as if he can brush off Achlys’ cloying influence. </p>
<p>Without an enemy, without the adrenaline, Chloe’s body is going completely opposite. The trembling spreads from her core to every limb, until all her fingers and toes are prickling uncomfortably. She sways and Lucifer just manages to catch her before she sinks to the ground. </p>
<p>“Detec-” he coughs roughly, clearing his throat, “Chloe, what is the matter?”</p>
<p>The tears that had dried up in the face of her fury make their comeback, blurring the world and stealing over her raw face. “I don’t- I can’t- is she-?” she chokes on the words, unsure what she is trying to ask. </p>
<p>Lucifer holds her more tightly, casting a dark look at the black water. “She will emerge from the River eventually, but ideally not for some time. </p>
<p>They sit there a moment, Lucifer watching her with growing horror and Chloe trembling so hard her teeth chatter before she finally says, “I don’t think I can stand.”</p>
<p>He looks a little like he might cry again and she turns her face away. </p>
<p>“Of course,” he says, his voice gentle and understanding despite the look she saw on his face. She’s grateful he doesn’t press further, instead he slides the knife back into it’s holster on her thigh and slings her backpack over his shoulder before lifting her gently to his chest. He ignores the gun amongst the stones and she doesn’t ask.</p>
<p>He holds her like a precious thing, taking care not to jostle her as he walks. They pass some time in silence, but the look on his face is growing darker and darker and she scrambles for a way to banish whatever thoughts are responsible.</p>
<p>“Why didn’t you do this before?” she asks, gesturing to the gently flaming river at their side. </p>
<p>Lucifer looks askance at the fire, uncomfortable. “That kind of power draws unwanted attention. Unfortunately, it means we might have to dodge a few more of Persephone’s nastier house guests than I anticipated.” </p>
<p>He says no more, his jaw tightening, and Chloe let’s the conversation die as she drifts out of reality again. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Thankfully, when she next wakes, it appears Lucifer was wrong on that front. They traverse the rest of the tunnel in eerie peace, Chloe still jumping at every flame-wrought shadow and shifting of stone under his, Lucifer’s hands tightening on her every time. </p>
<p>The reason why becomes clear when the tunnel unceremoniously dumps them back into the Underworld with the same jarring halt it had in Hell. </p>
<p>Aila is perched on a rock by the gate, carefully honing a knife against a whetstone. Just past where she sits, Cerberus lounges like a dog-sized mountain, his heads resting on his paws and eyes drooping. Nearby, there is a pile of distorted shapes burning, the flames jumping purple and blue and green and the smoke rolling black and oily. It takes Chloe far too long to realize they must be creatures of Hell or the Underworld, stopped from stalking the tunnels by Aila and Cerberus. </p>
<p>Aila leaps to her feet at the sight of them, hissing angrily in Greek, the tone clear enough that she’s swearing. </p>
<p>“What is wrong with her?” She snaps at Lucifer. </p>
<p>Lucifer bristles, turning to shield Chloe with her body, and Chloe pats at his arm. “It’s okay Lucifer, it’s Aila. I told you about her. You can put me down, I feel better now.”</p>
<p>Aila stops a few feet away, looking furious, and Cerberus rising to his feet with a soft growl. </p>
<p>Lucifer eyes Chloe, Aila, and the mountainous dog in turn. “Are you certain?”</p>
<p>Chloe nods, not entirely trusting her raw voice, and he sets her down with a gentleness she rarely gets to see from him and that she almost clings too. As it is, she still maintains a tight hold on his arm, gritting her teeth against the shaking in her legs. </p>
<p>Aila takes a few steps closer, eyeing Lucifer with the same suspicion he regarded her. </p>
<p>“Chloe, you’ve been attacked?”</p>
<p>Chloe only nods but it’s Lucifer who says, “we met Achlys along the way.”</p>
<p>Aila sucks in a horrified breath, “she-”</p>
<p>“Chloe made short work of her, she will not bother us again. I suppose we have you to thank for keeping the rest of these demented little monsters off our backs.”</p>
<p>Aila glances at the smouldering pile and shrugs. She eyes Lucifer warily but steps forward again, “Chloe?”</p>
<p>Chloe tries to smile reassuringly and reaches for Aila’s hand, who takes it in both her own. “I’m okay, nothing a hot bath and some bandaids won’t fix.”</p>
<p>Aila’s grip tightens on her hand, eyes searching Chloe’s face. “We need to get you out of this place as soon as possible.”</p>
<p>Chloe nods, “that would be great, I’m sick of it here anyway.”</p>
<p>Aila turns to Lucifer, her gaze assessing, “Persephone showed me the entrance to the Orpheus Path. It will be much faster but…” she trails off. </p>
<p>“But it’s dangerous,” Lucifer finishes dryly, “yes, what isn’t in these Father forsaken lands.”</p>
<p>“Well, sounds about par for the course,” Chloe says, trying for lightness, “Aila, could you lead the way?”</p>
<p>She steps forward and stumbles a little, Lucifer catching her by the elbow. </p>
<p>“Detective, I-”</p>
<p>“I can walk Lucifer, just...stay close okay?”</p>
<p>He nods, wrapping a hand around hers where it clutches at his arm. </p>
<p>Aila watches them a moment longer, naked concern in her eyes, but finally turns to lead them onward. Cerberus pads along nearby, eerily quiet for so large a creature, but still his paws send up large clouds of the soft, ashy dirt each time they come down. </p>
<p>As always, Aila marches with direct efficiency, in a straight line and head held high. Her bow remains in her hand and she sweeps her gaze side to side in watchfulness. However, her vigilance doesn’t seem to be needed and they pass the trip quickly and unbothered. Chloe wonders how much Cerberus’ looming presence may have to do with it as well.  </p>
<p>They eventually reach a stretch of slick obsidian wall that seems the same as all the others to Chloe and when she looks to Lucifer he seems annoyed and uncertain. </p>
<p>“This is it?” he asks with no small amount of sarcasm.</p>
<p>Aila does not grace him with a reply, focusing on running her hands over the smooth surface in concentration. </p>
<p>Cerberus lets out a great, booming bark from all three heads and Chloe very nearly passes out, her heart leaping in her chest. Lucifer folds over her like a shield, eyes blazing. </p>
<p>“It’s alright!” Aila yells over the sudden screeching grind of obsidian stone, “he was opening the door for us.”</p>
<p>Indeed, a tunnel has opened in the wall with smooth, glassy stairs that seem to lead upward into darkness. Cerberus is looking down at them with a grin on all three faces, tongue lolling out of the furthest left, the general air of a dog expecting to be told he’s a good boy. </p>
<p>“Good boy, Cerbie,” Chloe says, “Maze would be proud.”</p>
<p>His tail wags joyfully and he leans down to let her pet his middle snout, snuffling a hot wet breath over her face. Lucifer clutches at her other arm as if he’ll need to yank her back and she doesn’t pull from his protective touch. </p>
<p>“Thank you Cerberus,” Aila says and he allows her to scratch his right face at the same time. </p>
<p>When he’s had his fill of praise, he bounds off across the landscape with a joyful bark and Lucifer finally lets out the breath he’s been holding. </p>
<p>“Scared of dogs?” Chloe asks, teasing. </p>
<p>“Of course not, I’m the one who gifted Cerberus to Hades in the first place. He’s just always been a little clumsy with his strength. I don’t trust him not to accidentally shake you like a rag doll. He crushed three of Maze’s ribs the last time they played properly.”</p>
<p>Chloe is suddenly glad she didn’t know any of this, a shiver wracking her. “Oh.”</p>
<p>Lucifer smiles ruefully, “don’t be alarmed. He listens well enough, I would not have let him harm you.”</p>
<p>While they talk, Aila makes herself busy peering up into the shadows of the newly revealed tunnel. </p>
<p>“I can see a light at the top,” she says, when it’s clear their conversation is over. </p>
<p>“Excellent,” Lucifer says briskly, steering Chloe closer by the elbow. “The faster we are out of this hell hole, the better, and I mean that quite literally.”</p>
<p>Chloe digs her feet in, “are you sure Maze will be alright?”</p>
<p>Before Lucifer can reply, Aila is on them, “where is Mazikeen?” </p>
<p>Lucifer seems confused by Aila's suddenly protective posture, but she knows that Maze is perhaps the closest thing that Aila’s had to a friend in a long while. </p>
<p>“She chose to stay behind and protect Persephone while she watches over Hell so that Lucifer could leave.”</p>
<p>Aila looks horrified, “and you...left her there?”</p>
<p>Lucifer scoffs, “she’s got her big demon panties on, she’ll be fine.”</p>
<p>“But, she, with-” Aila stammers, unable to come up with the words she wants. Her face suddenly hardens, eyes going blue-black, “how dare you leave her behind.”</p>
<p>Lucifer straightens in response, something like heat rolling off his skin and Chloe’s sure that if she looked now his eyes would be blazing red, “watch who you speak to in that tone, halfling child.”</p>
<p>Aila takes a step forward, the air around them practically crackling with energy, “I am no child, Lucifer Morningstar. You would do well to remember the difference between goddesses and angels.”</p>
<p>Lucifer pushes Chloe behind him, despite her resistance, “Lucifer no, it’s okay-”</p>
<p>“Mazikeen of the Lilim is serving her duty, at the right hand of the throne of Hell and overseeing the transition of power with the demons. You would do well to remember I am no mere angel.”</p>
<p>His voice is a rumble of power, through the stones and Chloe’s very bones. Aila takes a halting step back from him, but still the darkness does not leave her eyes. </p>
<p>“You abandoned her once before, what’s to say you won’t do so again?”</p>
<p>“Enough!” Lucifer roars and Chloe digs her hands into the back of his shirt and he seems to relax just by a hair's breadth. “Maze has my word. I own you no promises or explanations, little half-god.”</p>
<p>Chloe steps around Lucifer despite the angry noise he makes, “it really is okay Aila, Maze isn’t staying long, just enough to make sure the demons are contained. We would have stayed, but I need to leave soon. I hate leaving her behind too, but Lucifer will come back for her. I promise.”</p>
<p>Chloe’s promise seems to appease Aila in a way Lucifer’s words did not, and the tension leaves her body. Still, she looks sad and a bit disappointed as she watches Chloe’s face.</p>
<p>Finally, she gestures to the path. “The path is there and straightforward. Chloe, since you entered Hell to find Lucifer, you must go first and he will follow.”</p>
<p>“And you?” Chloe asks, already knowing the answer.</p>
<p>“I will stay and wait for Mazikeen. Hell may be her domain but she should not traverse these lands alone.”</p>
<p>Chloe sighs, “Aila, I don’t want to leave you either. You’ll get sick down here.”</p>
<p>Aila takes Chloe’s hand again and musters up a half-smile, “it will be okay Chloe. As you said, Mazikeen will not stay long and I will be fine as long as I don’t enter the tunnels. We will meet again soon, I can feel it.”</p>
<p>There is an air of certainty to her words that rings clear and true and Chloe wonders if she just witnessed prophecy. </p>
<p>“Now that that’s settled,” Lucifer interjects loudly, “could we get a move on here?”</p>
<p>Aila merely shoots him a dirty look and walks Chloe by the hand to the entrance to the tunnel, Lucifer following by his hold on her other hand. </p>
<p>“Whatever you do,” Aila says gravely, “do not look back. No matter what noises you hear or touch you feel, you must look forward. The path is not long, but it is deadly if you stray.”</p>
<p>Lucifer’s grips tightens around her hand and she squeezes back. When she looks back to meet his eyes, there is a fond, sad smile on his face, the kind he gets when he’s proud of her despite the danger she’s put herself in. </p>
<p>“We can do this,” she whispers between them, but he only squeezes a bit tighter. </p>
<p>“Go with grace and speed, Chloe,” Aila intones, dropping her hand, “look to the light.”</p>
<p>Chloe brushes a mothering hand over Aila’s hair, “be safe. You and Maze come back to me, okay?”</p>
<p>Chloe sucks in a deep breath, squares her shoulders, and starts to ascend. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For a while, there is naught but silence, broken only by her labored breathing and their echoing steps. </p>
<p>The air feels tighter and thinner with every stair and Chloe clutches at the wall to keep herself moving. Eventually she can’t hear anything at all over the pounding of blood in her ears and her panting breaths. She nearly turns around to check that Lucifer is there when she remembers Aila’s words. </p>
<p>“<em> Whatever you do, do not look back.” </em></p>
<p>She squares her shoulders and continues upwards. </p>
<p>An unknowable amount of time later, Chloe hates stairs, tunnels, the distorted quality of time, her own body, and every fucking pebble of this place. Starbursts have begun to dance in her vision and she’s not sure anymore what is the impossibly distant light at the end of the tunnel and what is just a hallucination. </p>
<p>It’s about this time that a sound starts up in her ears, first like the woosh of television static, but then cycling in and out, louder and softer, as when trying to tune a radio. Words start to break through, broken and distorted. </p>
<p>“For Dad’-- really -- could just let-- Gaudia--- do kind--- ugger off would --”</p>
<p>It’s Lucifer’s voice, exasperated and annoyed, as if he’s talking to someone he’d really rather not see. </p>
<p>“Oh and Algea and Apor-- graced us with -- oh fuck off!”</p>
<p>The last bit is an angry shout and once again Chloe halts on the stair, body trembling with the desire to turn and look.  </p>
<p><em> “No matter what noises you hear or touch you feel, you must look forward.” </em>Aila had said. </p>
<p>The sound tunes in and out again, only distorted noise for a moment. It sounds like Lucifer shouts again, this time in pain, and Chloe grips at the wall so tightly that the obsidian cuts her hand. </p>
<p>“Lucifer?” she asks. </p>
<p>“Detec-- go-- keep go-- CHLOE GO!”</p>
<p>The last bit breaks through on a roar and it feels like a physical touch, sending her stumbling up several more stairs. </p>
<p><em> You can’t look back, you can’t look back, he’s fine, he’s okay, it’s probably just a hallucination like everything else in this fucked up place </em>. Chloe chants in her head, pulling herself hand over hand along the wall now. </p>
<p>The sounds of scuffling and Lucifer’s wordless shouts follow her, rising with her, so she has faith that whatever is happening, he’s still moving, he’s still right behind her. </p>
<p>Cold, clammy hands suddenly grasp at her arms and she jerks from their grip, turning a quarter of the way back on instinct before she can stop herself. She clutches her arms close to her body and stomps upward, swaying as she goes. </p>
<p>The hands reach out again, scratching at her exposed skin, tangling in her hair, and still Chloe rips herself upward. </p>
<p>“Lucifer?” she calls again, when the scuffling sounds go quiet. </p>
<p>“Keep going!” he shouts after a too long silence, sounding further behind her. </p>
<p>“Lucifer, I-” but this time the touch that buffets her is hot and determined, nearly sending her to her knees on the next step. </p>
<p>“--Going!” he says again. </p>
<p>She looks up, and realizes her vision is distorted with tears. She scrubs roughly at her face and tries again and is relieved to find that the light at the end of the tunnel is close now, just out of the reach of her fingers. </p>
<p>“Lucifer Morningstar,” she yells, with every bit of authority she can muster, “you had better be right behind me.”</p>
<p>Chloe crawls the last steps on hands and knees, crying more tears than she thought her body was capable of holding, and careens out into the sunlight. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As soon as the sunlight hits her face, the weakness her body has been hiding hits with the strength of a freight train. Chloe barely gets to feel the heat of the sun, or taste fresh air, before her legs are collapsing under her, sending her straight to the ground. She has no strength in her limbs and hits the ground full force, her face bouncing on the dirt.</p>
<p>Her vision swims sickeningly, making the world a swirl of color. She thinks she might try to speak, or make a sound, but her mouth won’t cooperate. Her entire body feels thin and brittle and hot; an empty, roiling ache starting from her stomach and radiating like sparks along all her joints. </p>
<p>A shadow cuts in and out of the light, moving around her. Someone might be speaking, but the sound is slow and distorted and she can’t make out any of the words. She forgets for a moment where she is, what she was doing. She twists her head, trying to make sense of the world but only bringing on a wave of nausea. Her body heaves without her consent and slick, acidic bile pours out of her mouth. </p>
<p>Someone turns her on her side, and she reaches out desperately, not knowing who but also not wanting to be alone. A hand brushes back her hair, another circles her wrist and, as before, she finds she can identify Lucifer solely from the strangely cool touch of his hands and the icy bite of the ring he never takes off, comforting against the fire raging under her skin. </p>
<p>She’s so relieved that he’s here, that they are both in the world, under the <em> actual sun </em> that it leaves her breathless. Or, perhaps, she thinks dizzily, she just can’t breathe.</p>
<p>He lifts her gently, but the movement still makes her body protest. She retches again, twisting in his arms, but there is nothing to bring up, the sound pained and drawn out unwillingly as bright starbursts of light start up in her vision.</p>
<p>Lucifer says something again, his mouth brushing her hairline and his breath soothing over her feverish skin. She can’t understand it.</p>
<p>It’s almost a blessing when unconsciousness finally takes her, knowing she’s safe in his arms no matter what happens next. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Achlys - Achlys was the personification of misery and sadness and carried knowledge and power over poisons and death mists. She is a daughter of Nyx and likely a member of the Keres (sisters of violent death) and was considered by some to represent the eternal night before Chaos. She was depicted on the shield of Herakles as pale, emaciated, and weeping, with chattering teeth, swollen knees, long nails on her fingers, bloody cheeks, and her shoulders thickly covered with dust. </p>
<p>Gaudia -  guilty joy</p>
<p>Algea - Agony</p>
<p>Aporia - Need</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. A Wine Dark Sea</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>
  <em>“Names and faces are truth,” Lucifer finally says, sounding strangely anxious. “To tell a false name is to lie. Samael died, even before the rebellion, and I made myself Lucifer." </em>
</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>E-ish rating starts this chapter (it’s at the end though and marked so you can skip if you like!). It’s E enough that I want to mark it that way, but I try to avoid truly explicit language. To give you an idea, I’m gray-ace, so these scenes are fun to write but it’s more Lucifer and Chloe talking and laughing than anything.</p>
<p>I imagine Lucifer hears a combination of 80s power ballads, the OG Celtic Woman, Sade, Savage Garden, and Hozier when he looks at Chloe. I absolutely manhandle musical and artistic metaphors in this and future chapters. Sorrynotsorry.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The world comes back in tiny, razor sharp pieces. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There is a throbbing, just in the tips of her fingers, that feels like she’s being electrocuted in pulses. The feeling jumps and travels through the joints of her fingers, up her arm, and spiderwebs across her body. If she had the energy, she would arch against it, but her body responds like a wet bag of sand, heavy and grinding.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She tries to suck in a breath to scream but she chokes, her mouth full of bitter plastic. She gags, trying to bring a hand up to her face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All she can hear is the pounding of blood in her ears, which seems to rise and stretch until it becomes a violent ringing. Her fingers scramble at her own skin, but she can’t feel anything beyond the hurt in her bones. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hands are on her again, but they aren’t familiar this time and she tries and fails to yank away from them. Someone grabs her head and she screams, bites around the plastic in her mouth, twists. The whole world reduced to a blurred, roaring mess. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>You’re okay, love</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A voice breaks through the chaos, hands she finally recognizes resting on her jaw. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s okay Detective, let them help.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Awareness comes back to her. She blinks her eyes open, locking eyes with Lucifer who holds her head still as a nurse deftly reaches through his arms to deflate and pull the tube from Chloe’s throat. Her gag reflex continues to come and go in waves, even after her throat is clear, sucking in fresh, cold breaths of sterile hospital air. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer doesn’t move from her side, his tall silhouette blocking out the majority of the buzzing ceiling lights. Nurses and doctors bustle around her room, their chatter as nonsensical to her as sparrows on a sidewalk.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Don’t leave me</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she tries to tell him with her eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I won’t,” he says out loud, but his face is pained. She reaches up just enough to twist her hand into his jacket, her grip distressingly weak. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Miss Decker?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Detective,” Lucifer corrects the doctor sharply who glances at him with fear. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The doctor coughs awkwardly, flipping the pages of the chart in his hand. “Can you hear me Detective Decker?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe tries to speak, but her throat only clicks, and she settles for nodding. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And you can understand me?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nods again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Excellent. Well, all told you’ve made a remarkable recovery. When you arrived you were severely dehydrated and malnourished. You were confused, disoriented. We’ve kept you sedated to give your body some time to rest and recuperate. Do you understand?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“H-how,” Chloe chokes on the word, her cough sending pain throughout her body. Lucifer’s hands disappear for a moment and she turns to him in alarm, but he returns with a glass of water that he holds to her mouth with surprising gentleness. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“”H-how long?” she tries again once she’s had some water, the words barely more than a whisper. She hangs on to Lucifer’s hand when he tries to pull away from her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“About a week. You had been missing for some time. It seems Mr. Morningstar here found you wandering in a rural area. Your husband reported you left on a trip over 2 weeks ago.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her breath heaves in her chest. Weeks! And still longer in Hell. How close to death had she been? Even having been there the mechanics of Hell still elude her; three weeks with minimal food or water should have left her nothing more than a bag of dried bones.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The doctor flips his chart closed again. “Well, you’ve improved rapidly. Now that you are awake I’ll inform your family they can visit in limited amounts. I expect you’ll be able to go home in the next few days. We’ll schedule a follow-up with your primary and I will be filing for an evaluation.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The doctor says this last bit with a stern look at her, followed by a disconcerted glance at Lucifer and Chloe wonders what Lucifer may have said in her time under. Better yet, how he has permission to be here when her family doesn’t. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The doctor leaves, followed by the nurses, one of whom dims the lights on their way out. The room returns to the restless silence of all hospitals: quiet beeping, the rush of air, footsteps and voices muted in the hall. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She turns to Lucifer.  He looks different under the dimmed hospital lighting, thin and pale. There is none of his usual energy, no spark in him. He looks like he would crumble at a touch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hovers at her bedside, but won’t quite meet her eye, his gaze jumping over the IV in her arm, the various beeping machines, and the bandages that mark the exposed portions of her body.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His fingers keep jumping in hers, like he wants to rip himself away. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just as she opens her mouth to speak, Lucifer angled forward in attention even as he still won’t look her in the eye, there is a light tap on the door. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer jerks back and Chloe very narrowly avoids screaming like a feral animal. She’s exhausted and trying desperately to hold onto thoughts and consciousness, all just water in her hands. She forgot how many people were around on Earth, how the noise </span>
  <em>
    <span>never fucking stops...</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She barely manages to wrestle the urge under control, Lucifer watching her with something like alarm, when the doctor swings the door in to reveal Dan and Trixie. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dan looks stricken when he comes through the door, grey and a little jumpy. He keeps staring at the corner of her face and she’s not sure why. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Trixie too seems somehow thinner, circles under her eyes that shouldn’t be there. Chloe immediately feels like the lowest, scummiest creature at the sight of their drawn, stressed faces, her anger fleeing as quickly as it came.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” she blurts out, “I’m so sorry.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dan sighs heavily, rubbing at his face. Trixie climbs up into bed with her, unusually quiet, and burrows into Chloe’s side. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe feels a tug in her chest, a whisper that sounds like Uriel. She wonders if the pull of Hell will be with her forever now, Lucifer or no Lucifer. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s okay Mommy,” Trixie finally says, her voice subdued, “are you okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe curses her watering eyes, squeezing Trixie as tight as her weak body will allow and pressing her face into Trixie’s hair, letting the scent of her wash away the empty smoke taste of Hell. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I-I’m okay Monkey. I’m sorry I was gone so long.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did you save Lucifer? Is he okay? Is Maze okay?” Trixie asks, her voice increasingly desperate. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe jerks her head around and realizes with horror that Lucifer has indeed vanished into thin air, perhaps literally. Her machines beep a little erratically around her and Dan throws them a dark look. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She wrestles the panic under control. </span>
  <em>
    <span>He wouldn’t leave like that again</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she repeats to herself, </span>
  <em>
    <span>not after all this. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe clings to Trixie to cover her unease, petting her hair and reveling in the life of her, safe and whole in her arms. “Yes baby, we are all safe and sound. Maze is helping make sure Lucifer is safe and won’t have to leave again, she’ll be back soon. I think Lucifer went home, but he’ll be back here soon too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dan comes to stand by the bedside and she slips a hand into his, but he won’t meet her eyes. He glances down at their intertwined hands and smiles in a sad, broken kind of way that makes Chloe feel even worse. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She squeezes his hand, forcing him to look up at her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We need to talk,” she mouths. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not today,” he mouths back and she doesn’t argue. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They stay a little longer, mostly in awkward silence or answering Trixie’s whispered questions, until Trixie is nearly falling asleep in her arms. Dan doesn’t sit the whole time, instead pacing the room like a caged tiger, his energy making Chloe more anxious by the minute.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He never once asks her where she was. She doesn’t know if she finds that comforting or not.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s awful to let Trixie go again, just when she is finally looking a little brighter and more herself, but secretly Chloe is relieved when they go, free of Dan’s anxious, angry glances and Trixie’s complicated, prying questions.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sun has almost set, casting the room in soft orange light. She’s just almost drifted off when a sound like the rustling of feathers startles her awake once more and she jerks, trying to sit upright and failing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s me.” Lucifer says, stepping from the shadows into the late afternoon light, rimming him in halo. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe sighs, sinking back into the bed. “A little warning would be nice, maybe a knock.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Knocking is for people who use doors.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And you don’t use doors anymore?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not if I can help it. Too many doors in Hell, why should I tolerate them here?” He adds with a shrug, settling in the chair at her bedside. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That explains a lot about your penthouse.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He merely hums in agreement, pulling his phone out. The silence that follows is awkward and tense. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, Chloe can’t stand it anymore. “A-are you mad at me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer looks up, surprised.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mad at you?” he repeats, all incredulity.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She gestures vaguely at him, “you’re...quiet.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He steps up to her side but still it feels like there is a chasm between them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m quite tired of seeing you in hospital beds on my behalf.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He remains just the barest out of reach, pointedly not looking at her outstretched hand. She lets it hang between them until her arm trembles so hard she can’t keep it up anymore. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It was my decision, Lucifer.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sighs, “be that as it may, you would not be in this state if it weren’t for me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Anger writhes and pops to the surface, as if a bubble from very deep water, leaving Chloe cursing the tears that well in her eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sick and tired of the blame game, Lucifer. That’s what souls in Hell play and I didn’t come get you to play it again here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It occurs to her, as the words leave her mouth, that maybe that’s all he knows. That he thinks guilt is a steady part of love and family and relationships. Her words seem to do the trick though and he finally looks at her properly, surprised and a little defensive. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Please shut up,” she says, when he opens his mouth to respond. “Please, just...stay with me, okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His eyes roam over her face for a moment before he nods. He takes one of her hands in his own when she reaches this time, but moves no closer otherwise, rendered nothing more than a sentinel statue by his impeccable posture and the distance between them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she had supposed in answer to Trixie’s question, it appears he did indeed go home to wash and change. But instead of relief, the difference leaves her wrong-footed and uncertain, the stark black on white of his perfectly tailored suit sitting like armor while she is bare to the cold. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Is this really the same half-wild Lucifer that had stalked the halls of Hell just days before? The one who was blind with grief, holding her tight as an anchor in a churning sea? The one who leaned over her in the dark and whispered that he loved her, that he dreamed of her? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Could it be that she went all that way to get him back and somehow failed? Left some fundamental part of what makes him Lucifer in the Hell-loop? Or worse, with Achlys?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before she can give voice to these fears, before she even fully knows what they are, their silent watch is interrupted by the door crashing open. Lucifer again, yanking his hand from hers to stand slightly off to the side. She can’t hide the sound of distress that crawls up her throat at the loss of contact. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s way past visiting hours but that hasn’t stopped Ella, who is panting in the doorway like she ran the entire way, LAPD badge still clutched in one hand. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looks back and forth between them comically, her face running a gauntlet of emotions from confusion to delight to anger. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi Ella,” Chloe says, trying to make her rough voice sound somewhat normal. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella finally seems to decide on her course of action, straightening her shoulders and walking right past Lucifer as if he’s not there. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Chloe!” Ella takes off at a million miles a minute, no sign of her previous hesitation or obviously cold shoulder for Lucifer, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Dios mío</span>
  </em>
  <span> it’s so good to see you, I’ve been worried sick! How could you just vanish like that? Dan’s looked like a ghost for weeks, I was starting to worry I’d be working on your body for a case--”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m okay Ella, I promise,” Chloe interrupts, “I didn’t mean to be gone so long, I’m sorry I worried you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella perches on the edge of Chloe’s bed, her eyes searching. She shoots a furtive glance at Lucifer who is now awkwardly trying to look busy on his phone from where he’s edged back into the shadows of the room. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you like...okay?” Ella finally asks, her voice nearly a whisper. “You both look like you’ve seen some shit.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe laughs a little and then groans as the movement jostles her sore body. She catches Lucifer shoot a startled look at her, but he turns away as soon as he realizes she’s watching. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, it was tough going for a little bit there, when Lucifer wants to hide he doesn’t half-ass it,” she replies at a normal volume, careful to keep a smile on her face, “but I’m fine, we both just need a little rest and California sunshine I think.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh huh. So what happened to your face?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe tenses, “what?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella gestures to the space around her own left cheekbone, “you got some, uh... just there…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe brings trembling fingers up to her cheek and lets out a little shout of surprise to find it tender. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella grabs her hand, “whoa there badass! Don’t just stick your finger in a healing wound.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella’s eyes are concerned, “you mean you don’t remember getting hurt?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe shakes her head a little, squeezing her eyes shut against the dizziness that follows. “I remember bits and pieces. How bad is my face?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella leans in to look closely, her face focused but not pitying. “You’re gonna have a cool lip scar and 2, maybe 2 and a half, scars on your cheek. Long, but thin, and cleaned well so probably no more than a line once it’s healed. Wear sunscreen and tell people you got in a knife fight and you’ll up your MILF status to full-fledged Angelina Jolie Tomb Raider levels.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The laugh that jumps out of Chloe, is unexpected but relieving in a way she hadn’t anticipated. She laughs, maybe a little too hard, but Elle just looked pleased the whole time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There you go Decker. A good laugh will heal just about anything. You know, other than useful things like flu or Ebola.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Or these scars on my face?” Chloe says, more pitiful than she intended.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wanna see?” Ella says, already looking around the room for a mirror. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You could just use your phone,” Chloe reminds her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nah, the distortion is always distracting. No one likes their own face in photos.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just as she says this, she emerges from beneath a cabinet she’s probably not supposed to be in with a little desk mirror.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe gasps quietly when she catches sight of the reflection. She looks a little...patchwork. No wonder Dan looked so grey when he saw her, she hardly looks like she was brought back alive. There is a pale cast to her skin that wasn’t there before, even her hair seems drained of color, more of a pale, smokey blonde than the rich honey color of before. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And, as Ella pointed out, a handful of healing scratches. Two across the tender edge of her lip from where Achlys snatched her shirt off her face. Another three starting just at the soft rise of cheekbone under her eye and stretching down her cheek. They have healed a lot, the third no more than a thin scab now. But the other two are still tender healing blazes, writing stark lines in her pale skin. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She chokes on a little laugh and Ella looks at her strangely. “You okay there Decker?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes,” Chloe says, but she’s still bursting out in little gulps of laughter, “a little, overwhelmed? I was thinking how much I’ll look like an anime character with scars like this.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella’s face brightens and she laughs too, a sound that seems to bring light with it. “Oh my god, yes! When people ask, you can just be like,” she affects a stern voice and tilts her face down mysteriously, “a warrior does not dishonor their enemy in death.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Perfect,” Chloe says between laughing, “it’ll be better than those martial arts movies Dan and Lucifer love so much.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella looks strangely guilty but, truth be told, Chloe doesn’t have the energy for the full story right now and she doesn’t pry. They’ll get to the heart of it in time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Seriously Ella, I’m fine. I’m tired though and I really wish I could sleep in my own bed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella grins, but something watchful remains in her dark eyes and Chloe knows she hasn’t heard the end of this. “Then you better heal up and get out of here so we can get you some real food. None of this hospital mash, right Lucifer?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe is startled to find Lucifer halfway out the door, frozen and guilty looking. Her heart seems to solidify into ice in her chest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, yes, absolutely,” he replies vaguely, still not moving from the doorway. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella stands to face him and he’s starting to look a little panicked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not his fault, really,” Chloe says quietly, reaching out to squeeze Ella’s hand. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella squeezes back before letting her hand slide free.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, Lucifer…” she says, expectantly, “running off again when Chloe is in no condition to chase you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer puffs up a little, turning back to them, “I’ll have you know I didn’t want her coming after me the first-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella holds up a hand and Lucifer snaps his mouth shut, looking a bit startled. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wow Ella,” Chloe says, smiling now, “you really stopped the Devil right in his tracks.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer shoots her an exasperated look, “I-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella makes a sharp sound, cutting him off again. “Get over here mister.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He bristles defensively for a moment, like he’s going to leave anyway, and then deflates all at once, stepping back over to them in the room. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Very well Miss Lopez, I can accept my punishment with grace.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The mock-serious look slides right off Ella’s face. “Punishment?” She repeats back, all confusion and concern. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer bows his head and just seems to wait. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer,” Ella starts, her voice breaking, “I didn’t mean- I’m sorry-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella at a loss for words has always been a physical creature, and this time is no different. She fairly lunges, twisting her arms around him, her head barely reaching his chest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer jumps a little, letting out the softest gasp. Not of surprise, or even his usual half-hearted indignation, but something softer and altogether more painful.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe sees the moment Ella tenses, pulling back slightly to look at his face but not letting go. Lucifer is looking back, raw hope and raw despair plastered across his face, his hands still hanging mid-air like he’s forgotten about them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer?” Ella says again, a gentle, unfinished question. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There is a long, tense moment before his face twists and morphs into that broad, fake smile that always makes Chloe want to scream. He pats Ella roughly on the shoulder as if he can dislodge her hold and Chloe notes Ella doesn’t look convinced by the sudden change in his demeanor either. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Torture by hugs? Now that is sinister,” he plows on. “I’m almost disappointed though, I was looking forward to a proper tongue lashing from you, Miss Lopez.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He winks lecherously and Ella steps back, her face carefully blank. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Without warning, Ella hauls off and punches him in the shoulder. He yelps, cowering, and Ella wails on him a few more times while swearing fluidly in Spanish, before she seems satisfied. Chloe knows it probably hurts more with her here, but she wonders how much of this is just him letting Ella have this moment. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t you ever scare me like that again!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer raises his hands in a gesture of peace, eyeing her warily, “that was not my intention-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’re supposed to be friends Lucifer!” and now she sounds dangerously tearful, “how could you just leave without saying anything? You and Chloe gotta keep each other safe, you know?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His face softens, though his body does not relax, “My apologies, Miss Lopez, for worrying you. I can assure you, I will do everything in my power to keep the Detective safe; but apparently even I can’t always account for the depth of trouble she is willing to get herself into.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe glares at him but he refuses to look her way. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And you,” Ella says, rounding on Chloe, “we’re girl gang for life! We’re supposed to have each other’s backs. I don’t care if you want to get into trouble but how could you get into trouble without me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe’s eyes are terribly watery again and Ella returns an equally watery smile. Chloe holds her arms open and Ella leans over to hug her, somehow not awkward even with IV lines and hospital bed railings. She feels stupid that she never considered Ella’s excellent hugs as one of the things she’d miss on Earth. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m really sorry Ella,” she whispers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nah, it’s cool.” Ella whispers back, a little choked, “just wanted to make him panic for a minute.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They smile at each other when Ella pulls back and laugh in unison when they find Lucifer hovering as awkwardly as ever. Chloe would almost go so far as to say he looks a bit left out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella settles herself on the edge of the bed once more, “so, they have any news on when you can jailbreak this snoozefest?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer turns like he plans to leave again and Chloe says his name, gesturing when he turns back to her. He looks from her hand to her face to Ella’s face and back before he sighs and returns to the chair at her side, sliding his hand into hers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella eyeballs the movement but thankfully doesn’t comment. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not sure,” Chloe finally answers her question, “hopefully sooner than later. I want to sleep in my own bed and holy smokes,” Lucifer scoffs quietly and she ignores him, “I really miss my own shower.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella makes a thoughtful noise and leans over to hook the clipboard off the end of the bed, flipping through the sheets quickly. She glances at Chloe a few times with worry, but thankfully doesn’t comment on the results written there either. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, looks pretty routine to me. But then again, I’m used to lab results for dead people, soooooo,” she trails off, grinning. Lucifer looks alarmed again and Chloe surreptitiously squeezes his hand. “I’d say the doc’s answer is gonna be get lots of sleep, food, and water and as long as you have people check in on you, I don’t think they’d have a problem letting you go tomorrow.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank g-” Chloe starts, “I mean, thanks. That’s a relief to hear. Do you think you could help me sweet talk the doctor?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If anyone will be doing any sweet talking around here,” Lucifer says, somewhat mulishly, “it will most absolutely be me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella shares a knowing grin with Chloe. “Looks like you already have your jailbreak partner, Decker.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He is very, very good with locked doors,” Chloe stage whispers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer looks caught between pride and disapproval, like he wants to boast of his skill and, at the same time, keep Chloe in this hospital bed for the foreseeable future. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her and Ella banter for a while and, by the time Ella finally leaves with the promise to return tomorrow, Chloe is feeling more lighthearted than she has in weeks, despite her lingering bone deep exhaustion sending her drifting mid-sentence. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Over the course of the conversation, Lucifer had quietly sunk into the chair at her side, looking almost as worn as she feels and brooding in uncharacteristic silence. Ella had tried to engage him a few more times, but the conversation kept dying and she quickly resorted just to making increasingly questioning faces at Chloe and gesturing vaguely. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looks half-asleep now, but still his eyes glitter in the dim light of the room, watching. She wants nothing more than to let the drugs do their work and drift off instead of facing whatever stalemate they are currently locked in, but she has one more question she has to ask before she deals with doctors in the morning.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What did you tell them, when you brought me here? They must have asked where we’ve been?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She knows he doesn’t lie, but she also hopes against hope that he didn’t blurt out a story about her traveling to Hell to find him or she’s in for a long psych observation. His half-closed eyes slowly brighten again and he straightens himself a little in the chair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I simply told them the truth.You followed me to my extremely remote and hostile southern home to convince me to return to L.A. However, you got a bit sidetracked along the way and I only just managed to rescue you in time. I believe you have a legitimate reason to be somewhat fuzzy on the details.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe breathes out a sigh of relief.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Though,” Lucifer continues, “they are rightfully concerned as to why you would track me with such determination.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer says the words somewhat offhandedly, but he’s watching her intently as he says them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The tears well and spill before she even knows they are coming, her body tired and wrung out and her mind still 10 steps behind. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you,” is all she can think to reply. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Even as she says it though, his leaving seems inevitable. This is what they do. Will he find himself a beautiful, incoherent blonde? Will he go back to Hell and Maze and the simplicity of violence? Will he simply vanish, with no rhyme or reason or trail for her to stumble after? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer looks solemn and grave now, more a King than she’s ever seen him. She turns her head into the pillow, realizing she doesn’t have the strength to watch him make excuses or tell her he has to leave. Tears are already pouring down her face unchecked, what’s one more weakness? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She flinches a little when his hands frame her face, thumbs wiping gently at her cheeks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Achlys didn’t have power over me because you make me vulnerable,” he says quietly and her eyes fly open to find him just inches away, his face determined if a little sad. “She had power over me, because of how deeply I feel for you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t understand,” Chloe whispers between them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer sighs. “Achlys exploits...connections. She breeds despair and misery in the cracks where people are weakest. She had little power in my realm before, little power against me, because there was...nothing. I had fun where I could, I punished where I was supposed to, but I didn’t have friends, I didn’t have...you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What about Maze?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maze was created for me. For eons, our bond was one forged in survival. Things have been different since we came to Earth, perhaps we may yet learn to be friends, but Achlys knows that to exploit that connection would only infuriate us both and spell disaster for her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So,” Chloe says, trying to control the crack in her voice, “she was able to hurt you because of me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer shakes his head, eyes imploring, “no, she was able to hurt me because I care for you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He pauses, heaving a loaded breath. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...because I love you as well.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The tears come fresh over her lashes and cheeks and meet his trembling hands on her skin. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come down here and kiss me please,” she whispers and he obliges, the kiss gentle and somehow reverent. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He pulls back suddenly and she reaches for him, hissing when she jostles her bruised torso in the process. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He yawns hugely into the crook of his elbow and she smiles. “What? Bored of kissing me already?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer looks deeply affronted, “as if that is possible! No, of course not, it’s just-” he breaks off, yawning again, “Apologies. It’s been a while since I’ve slept.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A while in Hell could mean anything from a day to several years she imagines, and here he is with yet another week waiting in the hospital on Earth. He’s going to make himself sick at this rate, especially as it seems he does need at least some sleep on Earth in addition to his proximal vulnerability.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The catchyness of yawns can always be relied upon and sure enough she finds herself at it too. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bored of kissing me already?” he murmurs, leaning in to kiss her answering smile anyway. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wish we could go home. I just want to sleep in a real bed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His face softens to something yearning when she says it, like even now he doesn’t expect to be included in her concepts of “we” and “home” and is awestruck every time it happens. She makes a mental note to remind him as often as possible that it’s not home without him anymore, not really. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He straightens, his hand still in hers. “The diagnosis sounds positive, if Miss Lopez is to be believed, and I rather say she is. I haven’t seen Azrael slinking about, so I believe we are safe for the moment.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>‘For the moment,’ hangs between them, a blaring alarm that something remains fundamentally on the edge of an extremely sharp knife between them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe’s eyes are closing without her permission again, but she snaps them open, tugging on his hand when he almost slides from her grip. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Promise me you’ll stay. Just tell me I won’t fall asleep and wake up to find you gone.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His face is soft, but unreadable. He kisses her softly, and then once more across her temple, brushing her hair back from her face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I will be here when you arise, you have my word.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s not perfect, it’s not forever, it’s not even a promise of long-term. But it is a promise that he will be here in the morning and that’s enough for her to be able to sleep tonight. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>In true Ella fashion, Ella goes a little overboard with the best of intentions. This is how Chloe ends up with a room full of visitors first thing the next morning. Dan, Amenadiel, and Linda, the latter with baby Charlie in hand and all of them looking pinched and concerned and shooting anxious glances between her and where Lucifer is straight up hiding in the corner like a child in time out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’d just tell him to leave, but she’s so terrified he’ll walk out the door and vanish on her that she can’t bring herself to fix the awkwardness pervading the room. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amenadiel lays a heavy, warm hand on her shin and smiles softly. She immediately feels a little better, followed by a rush of anger that he might be manipulating her emotions. Can angels do that? Like how Lucifer senses desire? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For a moment, she is blinded by all that she doesn’t know about Lucifer Morningstar. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But then, he catches her eye for a heartbeat, and she remembers how much more she knows about Lucifer Morningstar than any angel, demon, or human has ever known.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Or will ever know</span>
  </em>
  <span>. A voice that is not her own, yet is, whispers in her head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She snaps back when she realizes Linda has said her name a few times now, and when she meets the doctor’s eyes, Chloe is relieved to find that Linda looks understanding. Ella is chirruping onwards in conversation, Amenadiel nodding politely. Dan shifts restlessly, strangely absorbed in whatever it is Ella is saying but still casting suspicious glances at Lucifer every few seconds.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Linda, the one true angel among them that she is, tucks baby Charlie into her chest with one arm and gently applies pressure to Amenadiel’s elbow with the other. “Okay Chloe, we’ll let you get some rest now. We’re glad you’re back.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella cuts off mid-story, looking concerned, “oh crap Decker, she’s right. Gotta get that healing rest, ya know?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe nods shyly, just letting them spin out an excuse for her. She wants to look pathetic enough that they’ll give her a little space, but not so pathetic that the doctor won’t let her go home to sleep in her own bed, or better yet, use every drop of hot water in her shower. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m sorry, I’m drifting off on you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ella waves a hand, “nah, it’s cool! Still want me to talk to the doc?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Actually, I’m going to sleep for a bit and then see how I feel. Thanks though. Thank you all for coming, it means a lot to me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With a chorus of goodbyes, gentle touches and gentler words, they filter out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well, except Dan, who hovers awkwardly in the corner opposite Lucifer while everyone else goes. Now Lucifer if the one shooting Dan suspicious glances and Chloe almost misses Ella stopping at the door, looking back at Dan expectantly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dan tries to wave her off subtly but Chloe doesn’t miss that either. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>When did that start? </span>
  </em>
  <span>She wonders.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She speaks up before Lucifer can say whatever that rude question she can see twinkling in his eyes is. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey Dan, what’s up? I don’t know if right now is a good t-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Relax,” Dan says, shooting a glance at Lucifer and then rolling his eyes, “I heard you say you were getting out. I’ll drive you home.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe freezes, and the room is tragically silent enough that none of them miss the strangled sound Lucifer makes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dan puffs up with the yell and Chloe blurts, “actually, Lucifer is going to take me home.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer looks baffled. Dan deflates all at once. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ella and Linda are making a visiting schedule I think. Maybe you can coordinate with them?”bed</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And you’ll be at the penthouse?” Dan says resentfully. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No,” Chloe says with rattling patience, “I will be at my home.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer’s head whips round from where he had been gloating over Dan with his puffed up posture.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh,” is Dan’s lukewarm reply, “well, that’s good. Uh, comfortable you know? I think Trixie misses her own bed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe wrestles with the guilt squirming in her chest, “I’m sorry again. For everything. Thank you for being there for her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dan shrugs half-heartedly, “it seems like you did what you have to do. She understands that. Maybe better than I do.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe can only nod, her eyes drifting shut of their own accord.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dan leans forward to leave a swift kiss on her forehead. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m glad you’re okay,” he whispers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m glad to be back,” she replies, trying to convey her sincerity. They’ve been on rocky ground for a while, but he’s learning. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And you,” Dan says, rounding on Lucifer who immediately goes still and wary, “you had better text me when she’s home and if anything happens,”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer’s eyes are still narrowed but he bows his head, “Of course, Daniel.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dan looks a little stunned by the use of his real name, but nods in acceptance. He throws one last confused, somewhat longing look at Chloe in the bed and she blows him a kiss in reply. When Dan steps out of the door, Chloe just catches the flash of a wild hand gesture that tells her Ella waited for him in the hall. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Still don’t get that</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she thinks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As soon as the door shuts behind Dan, Lucifer looks to her with the gleam of an idea.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I could just fly you out of here you know,” he says, somewhat haughtily, “wouldn’t take but a second and none of this fuss with paperwork.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s tempting, but I don’t want to give anyone any more reason to worry. Or put any more fuel on the dumpster fire that is gonna be my psych eval.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your what?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She waves him off, “I’ll explain later. Basically, disappearing from a high security hospital room is not a good look.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer shrugs, clearly not totally getting it, </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Their tug-and-pull silence resettles in the room, interrupted here and there by nurses. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Early in the afternoon, the doctor from yesterday reappears, still edging apprehensively past Lucifer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good afternoon Detective. How are you feeling?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good,” she says, pleased that her voice is steadier than before, “tired but much better.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can you tell me anything more about where you were or what you were doing?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe let’s herself sink to the surreal, dreamlike quality of the last weeks. “It’s all kind of a blur. I remember telling Dan that I was going to find Lucifer, but it’s a bit jumbled after that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The doctor doesn’t look convinced, “Yes, Mr. Morningstar mentioned as much. You were in quite a state when he found you. Well, no permanent damage, but we’ll schedule some follow-up when you’ve rested a bit and I’m afraid I have warn you off of any more adventures in the near future.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can I go home today?” Chloe asks hopefully. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The doctor flips through her updated charts, looking a little askance, “you could use more fluids. I would prefer that you stay, but if you have someone to look after you at home then I suppose.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I do,” Chloe blurts, even though she’s not sure she does. Maze, who would have made a terrible nurse anyway, is Hell-side. Linda and Amenadiel are busy with a baby. Ella is just a little much on the energy scale right now, Dan has Trixie, and Lucifer…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She can’t quite picture Lucifer as a bedside nurse, but he has been known to surprise her. Maybe it would be better if she went to the penthouse after all, that is, if he’s willing to watch over her? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She does,” Lucifer reiterates quietly from where he’s taken up his sentinel at the window once more and the doctor looks around at him in surprise. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh,” the doctor says, “okay. I mean, wonderful. I want you to finish this bag of IV fluids and then I’ll have them prep for you to be discharged. We’ll go over home-care when I return.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you so much,” Chloe says, forcing as much sincerity into the words as she can. “I’ll sleep much better in my own bed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The doctor nods at her, somewhat absent mindedly, noting down numbers and observations as he peers at the machines around her. After he departs, it’s only a few minutes before one of the nurses from this morning reappears, a young woman with a bright smile, a no-nonsense braid, and shoulders that look like she could rip a door off its hinges. Chloe likes her instantly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The nurse, Rebecca by her nametag, taps at the IV bag. “Okay, great, probably 30 minutes left on that. We’re gonna get your bandages switched out nice and fresh and a sling so you don’t jostle those stitches in your elbow too much. Dr. Engleheart will be back to discuss the dos and don’t’s, but don’t worry, it’s not complicated. You’ve been here long enough already that you won’t have the stitches much longer and most of the possible infection complications are behind us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s great news.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rebecca goes on a bit longer, having Chloe sign paper after paper for her discharge and tapping instructions into the computer. She disappears for a few minutes at one point only to return with a bag of Chloe’s personal effects and sets about unhooking all the machines and wires connecting Chloe to the bed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rebecca eyes the bag at the foot of the bed while she works, “the clothes you came in are pretty rough. Would you prefer to wait for someone to bring you something?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s fine, I’m going straight home to put them in the trash and get in a shower.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have her clothes here,” Lucifer says out of the blue, so that even the steadfast Rebecca jumps a little. She looks relieved when he gestures to a dufflebag on the chair, but Chloe doesn’t recognize it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer turns politely toward the window again, engrossed in scrolling through his phone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rebecca moves the bag to the bed, unzipping it and folding back the top. “Okay, I’ll leave you to get changed. Be careful of the stitches, press the buzz if you need a hand.” She throws one last look at Lucifer but once it’s obvious that he has no intention of leaving and Chloe won’t be kicking him out,  she excuses herself quickly from the awkward silence of the room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s not until the door has closed behind her, that Chloe realizes she should have asked Rebecca for help with the ties. She sits on the edge of her bed, still feeling like a wobbly newborn colt on her legs, and reaches with her good arm for the topmost tie. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You didn’t buy me a bunch of new clothes, did you?” she says suspiciously, still scrambling for the tie.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let me,” Lucifer says, suddenly right behind her and startling her terribly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Apologies,” he murmurs, cool fingertips brushing the nape of her neck. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s okay, I just didn’t realize you’d moved. Maybe I’ll put a bell on you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She hopes for a laugh, but he’s quiet and remains just out of her line of sight. The first tie of the hospital gown comes loose and he drags his fingers to the second, leaving a trail of goosebumps in his wake. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They are your own clothes. I asked Linda to make a stop at your house before she went to Lux.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe swallows sharply. “Thank you, Lucifer. That was thoughtful.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As the gown slides free, Lucifer carefully maneuvering it over her bandaged shoulder and elbow, Chloe finds herself shy all over again. It’s nothing he hasn’t seen several times over, and in a worse state beside, but something about the bright hospital lights and him fully-dressed and impeccable as ever, makes it all so much more obvious how fragile and soft her human body is. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She finds herself curling inwards, hunching her shoulders to hide as much as possible. She roots around the bag impatiently, tossing most of it across the bed to get to pants, literally any pants, faster. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She finds a soft pair of baggy sweats, only to realize they aren’t her own, black and long-legged and softer than any she’s ever owned. Now that she looks again, the bag is actually a mixture of her and Lucifer’s clothes together. Several crisp white shirts tangled with one of her hoodies, his dark socks and her black underwear, their toiletries all mixed together in a plastic bag. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It looks...right. She pulls out the sweats anyway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer is still hovering, an unreadable look on his face, and she tries in vain to ignore him. She manages to wiggle into a pair of underwear with one hand, cursing the heat she can feel in her face the entire time, but stumbles when she tries to lift a foot for the pants, nearly sending herself crashing to the floor.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let me,” he says again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t have to-” she starts but he just looks at her intently, hands hanging in mid-air between them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe nods.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’s impossibly gentle with her, comfortable in a way that makes her a little more comfortable too. He pushes her to sit on the bed and carefully lifts each foot, tugging the sweats to her knees. If he recognizes they are his own, he doesn’t comment, just helps her stand while she pulls them around her waist. He ties the string for her without her asking and all she can think is how badly she wants to kiss him, despite the fact that she’s currently topless in a hospital room. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She reaches blindly for a shirt, but realizes quickly that all Linda packed her are tshirts. Soft and comfortable, but a bitch to get in an out of with the sling on. She stares at the shirt in her hand, her mind blank and foggy feeling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer wordlessly reaches past her for one of his own shirts and lays in across her shoulders, helping her into her sling and then buttoning the shirt over the top. carefully rolling the sleeve where it’s too long for her other arm. His fingers brush her skin with each turn of fabric, sending little sparks into her blood. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Now that she’s close, she’s let’s herself give into the weakness, just for a moment. She threads the fingers of her good hand into his hair and pulls him down, her injured arm trapped between them. She can feel his heart thundering through the backs of her fingers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They’re alive. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>together</span>
  </em>
  <span> and alive. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She, Chloe Jane Decker, walked into literal Hell and pulled the Devil back out with her bare hands. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The ensuing kiss is filthy right from the start, open-mouthed and panting. Lucifer fairly lifts her off the ground with a single arm around her waist, the other protectively framing her injured arm, as Chloe tries to pull him even closer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer is murmuring quiet, hitching words that she can’t understand, but can taste the tone of anyway. She breaks away with a gasp, sucking in a lungful of bitter hospital air, and Lucifer brings his mouth to a tender spot just below her jawbone. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe has the exceptional misfortune to have a light tap sound at the door the exact same moment she says, perhaps a little loudly, “oh fuck</span>
  <em>
    <span>.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In the space of a few heartbeats, Lucifer is standing a polite distance away, looking as innocent and unbothered as possible with the exception of the blush high in his cheeks and the stray curl he has to smooth into place. Somehow, in the interim seconds, he straightened her shirt and brushed his fingers over her hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Was he always that fast?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The doctor lets himself in quietly, almost inching through the doorway. He scans the room and seems suddenly relieved, until he turns around and realizes that Lucifer is standing next to the door he just came through.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The resulting jump brings a slow, syrupy smile to Lucifer’s face. It doesn’t stay long, but still, it feels like progress. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright Detective Decker. You should be all set. No crazy stunts, no field work for at least a month. Amp up the calories in your diet, focus on things with good nutrition. Drink lots of water. We’ll send you a reminder for your follow-up scheduled in a week. We’ll take the last of the stitches out then too. You can take showers, but no baths, and no pool or ocean swimming until further notice. “</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A month?” Chloe groans and the doctor nods sympathetically. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can’t keep you from working your desk job, but no field work for at least a month. You have to build up muscle and reflexes again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sighs at the look on Chloe’s face. “We’ll talk about it at your follow-up.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe is basically a puddle of relief at this point. Now she just needs to get back to her own shower and pillow and perhaps an entire pot of pasta just for herself. Then maybe the world will seem right way up again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The rest of the afternoon is something of a blur. She loses the thread of things for a little bit of time that she thinks Lucifer might have put her tennis shoes on her with the regality of the Prince finding his Cinderella.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh, yeah</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she thinks dizzily, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I definitely lost the thread of something there</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She laughs out loud on accident and Lucifer shoots her a quizzical, suspicious look.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She walks out of the hospital under her own power, dimly registers surprise that Lucifer had someone bring the corvette to the hospital where it sits gleaming and perfect right along the curb, and gets herself buckled in before she loses track of time again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>LA goes by in flashes, lit by the orange-red afternoon light and the city lights flickering into existence along the streets. Lucifer drives fast as always, but smoothly, so that she finds herself lulled in and out of wakefulness by the hum of the engine, the cool, fresh breeze on her face, and the murmur of city noise.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When the lights blurring past get to be a little too much after the darkness of Hell, she rolls her head against the seat, eyes half shut, and watches him as he drives. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His fingers tap a gentle rhythm on the gear shift, his other casually resting on the wheel. He looks...peaceful, for the first time she’s seen in ages. Really since the beginning of her finding out his secret if she’s honest with herself. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Something has been fundamentally out of alignment for a long time; but now, having him here in his car, signature suit and a pocket square a crisp flash of red over his heart, the wind ruffling his hair into gentle curls, things are starting to feel right again in a way she was afraid was lost forever.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you,” she says quietly, the words bubbling out of her, full of relief and a growing joy.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He darts a glance at her, a tension creeping back into his shoulders. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t have to say it,” she reminds him, laying a hand over his on the gear shift, “I just want you to know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The tension bleeds from him as quickly as it came, but he doesn’t reply. Instead, he simply laces his fingers with hers over the gear box. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Shit!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She jerks a little, forgetting for a brief moment where she even is. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her last hazy memory is of Lucifer leaning over her, whispering words she can’t quite hear. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Whoa there,” says a warm voice that she has to take a second to place with the face wavering in her groggy vision. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Amenadiel?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes. Lucifer asked me to come keep you company while he went to clean up at Lux.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For a moment, Chloe is a little hollow-chested. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>He didn’t leave. He’s not gone. He’s just in his penthouse. Everything is fine. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She chants to herself. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A vision of all the surfaces in the penthouse covered in white sheets, nothing but ghosts, worms it’s way to the forefront of her mind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sits up halfway and just barely manages to catch the little paper crane that she hadn’t noticed was perched on her chest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For a moment, the sight of the small, crisp little paper bird in the palm of her hands nearly sends her into hysterics. She manages to choke the feeling down, but not without a little hiccup. It’s folded out of a rich, creamy paper, the kind she’s sure she doesn’t have in the house, every angle of it sharp and folded with deliberate care. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She only knows one person who would take this much time with something as simple as a note and the thought of Lucifer patiently scoring each line just to leave her with a beautiful little token in his absence makes her want to get in the car and drive after him herself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She doesn’t want to undo the work, but the curiosity wins out. When she unfolds the bird, it reveals a short note in Lucifer’s crisp, elegant handwriting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Ideally I will be back before you wake, but if not, Amenadiel will watch over you. If he bores you to death, I’ll happily torture him. Rest well. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s signed with a flourishing “L” to which Lucifer has added a little, terribly drawn, devil stick figure with horns and lopsided wings. Chloe laughs a little too loudly at the sight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amenadiel, who is still standing in the middle of the room awkwardly, now looks at her with concern. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m fine,” she says, around another little bubble of laughter, “just...Lucifer.” She shrugs, not sure how to describe why his boyish sense of humor is so comforting to her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amenadiel nods solemnly, “he does enjoy acting like a fool. In the Silver City, he was one of the only ones among our brothers and sisters who could make Azrael laugh.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Azrael?” Hadn’t Lucifer said that name at the hospital?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Our sister. The angel of death.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He says this matter of factly and without hesitation, but also without any hint of affection, and doesn’t seem to notice Chloe gulp at the title. Of course Lucifer was besties with one of the only other black sheep of the angel family. It almost seems like an obvious connection once Amenadiel says it out loud.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah, yeah. Okay, well, I’m going to take a shower,” she says, too brightly, and throwing her thumbs over her shoulder like her body is a puppet out of her control. Damn, maybe she is more out of it than she thought. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amenadiel lifts the phone he’s been holding this entire time, again, awkwardly. </span>
  <em>
    <span>How does he do that? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer instructed me to call him when you awoke.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait,” Chloe says, throwing her hands up. Amenadiel freezes with his finger over the speed dial. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>He has Lucifer on speed dial? Lucifer probably doesn’t even have his number saved. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Her brain says hysterically, causing her face to break out in a too big grin.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Amenadiel,” Chloe pleads. “Just let me get cleaned up first. You know how he is, he’ll probably sit on the toilet and talk to me the entire time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She brings her hands together like a little prayer and employs the same puppy eyes Trixie inherited from her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amenadiel sighs, looking at her somewhat suspiciously. “Will you be okay on your own? Lucifer said you weren’t to do things yourself.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Really Lucifer? </span>
  </em>
  <span>She thinks. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Did it have to be Amenadiel?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I </span>
  <em>
    <span>promise</span>
  </em>
  <span> I’ll give a shout if I’m in trouble. I’m just going to go slow, okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amenadiel looks from his phone to her face and back several times before he sighs, deflating. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, I shall be here if you need me. Lucifer could be back at any second. I will tell him you wanted your privacy.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He says this like </span>
  <em>
    <span>whether he’ll listen is another matter entirely.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe nods in understanding, “Thanks Amenadiel. I’ll be out in a bit. Make yourself comfortable.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she disappears into her bedroom, she catches him looking around awkwardly as if not sure where to perch. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Being laid up in the hospital for nearly a week means that she’s free to shower, the skin around her various abrasions already starting to get pink and itchy with healing. She takes her time with the process, peeling off the sweats and shirt of Lucifer’s she's wearing and pulls out her more luxurious items like shower melts and oils. The bathroom slowly fills with minty, eucalyptus scented steam as she pulls the fluffiest white towel she owns from the cupboard and turns to the mirror to take stock of her injuries one by one. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The only ones that needed stitches are her elbow, where she cut it deeply on the obsidian stairs, and a gash at her hairline from fighting amongst the sharp lava rock with Achlys. Otherwise, she’s got a few healing scratches on her face, a canvas of healing bruises mottled blue-black to yellow-green, and a few shallow scrapes to her knees and palms. All annoying but relatively minor.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All in all, she thinks she  got off pretty lightly for a jaunt into Hell. Considering the particular nightmares her brain dredged up on that endless train ride and how long she had functioned without bodily needs of any kind; a few stitches, a kaleidoscope of bruises, and a need for a regimen of good food and plenty of water, seems a small and surprisingly manageable price to pay.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe edges into the shower, bumping the water temperature up as she acclimatizes and fairly melts with relief. Her hands sting fiercely as she scrubs her hair, but it’s worth it to finally work the last of the ash and clay-like soil that sponge baths at the hospital didn’t catch from her skin. So much so that she shampoos three times, massaging down into her hair and behind her ears over and over until the water finally runs clear. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she emerges, she feels light and new and on better footing to tackle what comes next, namely Lucifer and whatever mood he’s likely worked himself into during their short time apart. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Part of her wants to rush, to hold on to him before he can fly off again; but, in the foggy dim lighting of her bathroom, she recognizes that it can’t always be like this. She’s made her wishes more than clear, now it’s up to him to stay or go. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instead, she takes her time with the ritual of it. Carefully applying fresh white bandages and lotion and combing out her hair feels something like removing all the hurts of the past days layer by layer and replacing them with calm assurance. She reminds herself, slowly and deliberately with each action, of where she wants to be, who she wants to be with, and all her reasons why. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she’s awkwardly blow drying her hair with one good am, the loud hum whiting out the rest of the world, she considers carefully everything she knows beyond logic. Like picking up objects on a shelf one by one to examine, she tries to identify and acknowledge her desires, her deepest wants, free of reasoning or uncertainty. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her skin buzzes with anticipation, each minute bringing her closer to the next step of whatever this all is, for good or ill, and endangering all the hard work she’s put into keeping calm. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If his power did work on her, what would she say? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She emerges from her room feeling at least 30% more like herself. She’s wearing fresh soft jeans and a pair of flat boots, but she’s buttoned Lucifer’s shirt on over her sling once more. She tucks a couple of shirts in a day bag, along with a few other odds and ends, just in case she works up the energy to worm her way into one later. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amenadiel is sitting in the exact center of the counter, apparently staring into space. He stands again immediately when Chloe enters the room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you okay?” He asks, looking her over as if for new injuries. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yup, just took it slow.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Excellent, I’ll give Lucifer a call now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Actually Amenadiel, could you give me a ride to Lux?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amenadiel’s brow creases, “Lucifer was very clear that you were to be comfortable here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe sighs, “please Amenadiel? Don’t make me call a cab.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s not ready to scream </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m in love with your brother</span>
  </em>
  <span> in his face just yet, but she can feel she’s getting close.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luckily, her hunch about Amenadiel’s love of the romantic pans out. His face goes soft and fond as he regards her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s that important?” he asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He glances down at his phone for a tense moment and finally pockets it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Very well, I’m ready whenever you are.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He holds out his arms solemnly and she realizes with a start that he means to fly there. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There is a silly, sappy part of her that wanted Lucifer to be her first ride with an angel.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her brain pauses....rewinds...plays her own last thought again. A sound creeps up on her that sounds and awful like Lucifer moaning.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Chloe?” She startles, only to find Amenadiel still with his arms handing in mid-air, looking even more concerned than before. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s fine,” she says, her voice just a bit too high, “I’m fine. Just tired. Yes, okay, let me grab my bag.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shoves a few more things in her daypack, scribbles a note that she leaves on the kitchen table, and approaches Amenadiel. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He lowers his arms for her,  but doesn’t help at all, so the whole process is akin to climbing into a rollercoaster seat with only one good arm. When she’s settled, uncomfortable but secure, his wings snap out. She stifles a little gasp at the sight of them, still somewhat brain-melting even after all she’s seen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ready?” he asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nods, curling her fingers into his shirt and squeezing her eyes shut. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There is nothing more than a displaced rush of air, her hair tangling around her face, and then they are still again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We are here,” Amenadiel explains as he sets her down gently, keeping one hand on her shoulder until she is steady on her feet. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you Amenadiel,” she says, patting his hand. She looks around to find he’s landed just around the corner from the door to Lux. “This is perfect. I’ll go from here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amenadiel moves as if he’s going to stop her walking away and she pauses. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you sure Chloe?” He asks, “Lucifer won’t be happy I moved you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let me handle Lucifer.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amenadiel looks somewhat perplexed, but he doesn’t question her either. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Very well, tell my brother I said hello. I am at your disposal should you need anything.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thanks!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He's gone in another eyeblink, nothing more than a gust of air. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>*** </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s just a little early in the day for staff to start arriving at Lux, only a security guard on the door who steps out of her way without a blink and Patrick disappearing back and forth between the bar and the back room with crates and bottles and a brief wave as she passes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s halfway to the elevator when she realizes the music she’s hearing isn’t background speaker sounds, but Lucifer playing softly at the piano down in the middle of the Lux floor. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer is bowed over it, picking out broken melodies, fingers hopping around the keys like a dove after spilt seed. Smoke rises from a forgotten cigarette burning away in the ashtray.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe slides in next to him on the bench and jumps a little, trying to stand and bashing his knees. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah! Bloody- Ah! Detective! But- oh I’m going to strangle Amenadiel.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe urges him to sit back down, “relax, I talked him into it. Besides, Angel Express took two seconds and not a hair out of place.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She grins and he stares at her for a long moment. When she blinks, it’s as if he comes to life once more, reaching out to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Very well Detective, I won’t deny you my excellent company. However, my apologies for leaving, I did not intend to be gone so-” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer, relax. You don’t have to apologize each time you have to do anything. I get it, responsibilities are hard.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer’s eyes are darting and nervous. Chloe leans her head on his shoulder with trepidation and is delighted to find he doesn’t so much as flinch. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Very well then. I thought you wanted a whole pot of spaghetti just for yourself and your bed in addition to your shower?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe ducks her head, “I said the pasta bit out loud?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, and waxed poetic on the merits of various kinds of sauces.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe pinches her eyes shut. “Honestly, I’m not as hungry as I thought, maybe later?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Very well. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Detective?” He says sweetly, tapping out the opening notes of Billy’s Joel’s “Piano Man.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe shakes her head slightly, not entirely sure why she’s there herself. They are both caught in Limbo, somewhere halfway between here and Hell, halfway between friends and lovers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He watches her out of the corner of his eye for a long moment and nods to himself, the broken melodies flowing seamlessly into a slow, sweet song that Chloe recognizes vaguely as something he’s played before but couldn’t name.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a rare moment when Lucifer is content to sit in silence and Chloe is overwhelmingly grateful for a second to catch her breath, to sort the thoughts tumbling through her head. She watches him openly, questions floating to the surface and away, like the smoke from his cigarettes. He’s still smiling softly to himself, she knows he knows she’s watching, but he’s never been one to shy or fidget under her gaze.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer hums to show he’s listening, but maddingly still will not turn to face her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Back when you tried to show me your Devil face and it didn’t work, why didn’t you just show me your wings instead? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer stops playing entirely now, twisting to face her fully on the narrow piano bench. The moment stretches and twists and coalesces, Lucifer’s eyes darting over her face as if he expects her to give him the words he’s trying to say. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Names and faces are truth,” Lucifer finally says, sounding strangely anxious. “To tell a false name is to lie. Samael died, even before the rebellion, and I was born Lucifer. A different creature than my father had created and thereafter each name had a truth of it’s own. The Devil, the tempter; Lightbringer, the fallen angel, Satan, the watcher; Old Scratch, the curse; on and on and on. To show you my wings instead of my Devil face would be a lie. They are designed with all the glory and grace the universe can carry, they are a lamp to humanity's moth. Of course you would have loved them, but that would not have meant you loved </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She thinks it might be the most he’s ever said in one go in his entire life, certainly the most he’s ever said since she’s known him. He radiates that same nervous energy he always gets when he’s imploring her to understand. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And...she does. He’s right, if she had seen the wings first, would she have ever been able to come to terms with the burned, raging creature that has made a home in his body? By knowing and accepting his Devil face first, everything else seems somehow natural between them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Of course there is a light to his darkness. Somehow, that makes far more sense to her than a darkness to his light. A ship lost in the length and breadth of rough ocean that has been made of his consent.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She knows what she needs to know next. “You haven’t asked me about it yet, the glowing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer’s eyes slide away, unable to lie even with his expression.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because you weren’t surprised.” Chloe finishes the thought. “Do you know what it means?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have...theories.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But you don’t know for sure.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know my Father’s thoughts any better than you do.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s strangely comforting to find that celestial beings butt heads with their parents over how to live their life, the same as any human. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My mother-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Charlotte Richards?” she prompts.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer freezes and then sighs, “this may be a longer story than I intended.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe waves her hands, “let’s tackle that one later.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer eyes her warily, “very well. My mother informed me that you were a miracle. My Father sent an angel to bless your mother when she couldn’t have children. As if the irony wasn’t enough, that angel was Amenadiel. I suppose I was at least able to confirm the story.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe takes a deep heaving breath, “and does he know what it means?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer shakes his head. “Amenadiel simply did what he was told. He never questioned the task and, until recently, he was unaware that you were the child born of that blessing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe feels marginally better about being left in the dark.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And what are your theories?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer pours back the rest of his drink and stares down into the glass. “At first, I thought you were sent to harm me, that your ability to make me vulnerable was a trap. Another manipulation of my Father to return me to Hell.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The night you showed up after I’d been poisoned?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer nods tightly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You thought I’d been manipulating you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer nods again, lips going thin. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But then, you never said anything. And Candy…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer smiles in a grim sort of way. “It occurred to me, in the course of your fight with that psychopath’s poison, that you had been manipulated as well. Manipulated by my Father, a figure you didn’t even believe in at the time, to have feelings for the Devil.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His smile goes soft and sad as he looks sideways at her, “I felt...guilt. That you were somehow tied to me, that you had no choice in your feelings. Candy is a good friend, nothing more. I asked her to help put a little distance between us in return for helping her escape the clutches of a loan shark.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She reaches for his hand, carefully, deliberately, and laces their fingers together. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know what’s funny,” Chloe says quietly, watching her own thumb stroke over his broad hands, “I liked Candy. She was...kind. In the end, she kind of hinted that she knew there was something between us. Not in a jealous way, more like you said, she talked to me like I was a friend, like she was your friend, like she cared about us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A heart as big as her bra size, that one,” Lucifer says, lifting his glass with his free hand to drink and frowning when he realizes it’s empty. He sets the glass down again, looking a little lost as to what to say next. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So,” Chloe prompts, “then you changed your mind?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer’s mouth twists a little, “Dr. Martin seems to think that since none of us know my Father’s plans, the point is moot. If Amenadiel’s self-actualization theory is true, perhaps my Father’s plan all along was to give me just enough rope to hang myself with.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know what?” Chloe says, watching the uncertainties race themselves across his face, “I don’t give a fuck.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer’s hand twitches in hers. “Pardon?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe turns fully to him, pressing herself to his arm, “I don’t care if I’m a miracle; I didn’t even believe in your father until a few months ago. Lots of people deal with immature, controlling parents. I mean, you’ve seen my mother. Your’s happens to be a powerful divine being, but parents are parents.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer has been watching this rant with growing wonder, his eyes wide.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There is only one thing right now that matters to me,” Chloe says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And that is?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is it that </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> desire?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The words pop out of her before she can even realize what she’s said, but once they are out she knows that she needs to know the answer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He glances at her and then quickly away. He looks almost…afraid?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She gives him a moment. He pulls his hand from hers and leans over to snag the decanter, refilling his glass and taking a large gulp before setting it down too hard on the piano top. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m generally a creature who gets what he desires, Detective. There isn’t much to want for,” he finally replies.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Everyone wants something Lucifer. Just because you have money doesn’t mean there aren’t things beyond your reach.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He lets out the tiniest, scoffing laugh. “Touché, Detective. A good point.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They fall into comfortable silence again. He lights a fresh cigarette, a ritual of opening the case, snapping it shut, the jump spark of the lighter, his first deep breath in and back out, sending a wave of smoke curling over the piano top before he finally answers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“All I have ever wanted, the only thing out of my grasp, is to be my own man. I want to make my own choices and be judged for my own deeds, free of my father’s shadow, his puppeteering. Free of what he forged me into.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His eyes meet hers and they flare to match the end of his cigarette. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But,” he continues, “it seems that recently I’ve learned a few more things I want, things I’m not sure are possible.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There is silence again, his eyes imploring and hers searching. It feels like an echo of the night in the cabin, her hands wrapped around the cool metal of an axe that could have spelled the end of him and his determination that it simply didn’t matter as long as he was by her side.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A glass smashes nearby, making them both jump and shattering the moment in the same fell swoop. Lucifer turns to look sternly at the bar, Chloe peeking around his shoulder, where Patrick has his hands up in apology, shamefaced. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry boss.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer sighs. “It’s no matter.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe jumps on her chance. “Maybe we should go up to the penthouse? Before the crowd starts filling in and you get stuck schmoozing?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ve never </span>
  <em>
    <span>schmoozed,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” his tone offronted, “in my life, thank you very much. Repulsive. What I do is nothing short of a networking masterpiece.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The spider in the center of the web?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer looks somewhat appalled, “well when you put it that way... Yes, why don’t we head up to the penthouse.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He gestures her ahead a little stiffly, gathering his coat from the piano top and ushering her up the stairs and into the elevator</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He is tense and still beside her in the elevator and she’s not sure anymore if she should apologize and go home, or if he just needs a moment. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He reaches out without looking at her and flips a switch on the elevator panel.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It comes to a juddering halt and she latches on to his sleeve to keep herself upright. His hand comes around her arm in support just as the lights flicker off. For two heartbeats, Chloe can see his eyes smoulder red in the pitch black, before the dim emergency light flickers to life and makes his eyes blacker than ever. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer, what-?”:</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Everything has been very,” he hangs his head, “exposed, since I’ve come back to Earth.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe looks around at their current small dark space, practically a crevice of Hell if you also count that they are still hanging mid-air. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She clutches his sleeve a little tighter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t understand how you don’t care,” he starts again, “what if the choice you are making is not your own?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe feels herself freeze. She had the passing though, but it hadn’t really stuck yet, that perhaps she was the one with no choice in this. Her first instinct had been rather that Lucifer was afraid of her, afraid of his vulnerability and the hand she plays in it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She realizes in a rush that she had it wrong all along. That he believes she could be false. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Maybe he doesn’t believe he’s worthy?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She slides her good hand tightly around the back of his neck, reeling him in for a breathless kiss.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t care,” she says firmly in one of the moments they break apart, panting. “This is my choice and if He wants to tell me otherwise then he can fucking come down and do it himself.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer is kissing her again before she’s even finished talking, so that she accidentally bites him several times and he audibly moans. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh, </span>
  </em>
  <span>she thinks, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m gonna like that.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her injured elbow gets jostled against the wall and a surprised shout bursts out of her. She didn’t even realize they had moved but here she is, backed into the wall, Lucifer bowed over her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer pulls back, his chest heaving prettily. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My apologies, are you alright?” He looks stricken and she realizes with a start that Lucifer thinks he hurt her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She takes his hands, “I’m fine. Just startled me. It barely twinges.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe not precisely, but, he is anxious and jumpy enough as it is. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He still looks a little like a startled deer. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let’s head up to the penthouse,” she says gently, gesturing for him to turn the elevator back on which he does. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When the door opens, he gestures her out first, holding the door for her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe freezes for a moment just inside the lift, her breath coming sharply.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She had forgotten that the last time she stepped off this elevator was the night she cried alone in his bed. The night before that? The longest night of her life.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer’s free hand comes gently to her waist, settling but not pushing. He holds the door patiently, looking for all the world like he could stand in this limbo forever. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She holds her breath and steps over the threshold, Lucifer a solid warmth at her back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Someone has cleared the broken glass from floors and counters, but the contractor trash cans remain, still half full of debris and scattered around the entire room. There is a faint smell of bourbon drifting in the air. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe winces, it’s a little worse than she remembers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry Lucifer.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hmm, what?” Lucifer says, glancing up from where he’s leaning over to assess the bar “Oh, this? It’s nothing. Frankly, this is par for the course. If Maze is ever cross with you, just let her destroy a few things and she’s back to her old self.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He steps a little back from her to shrug out of his jacket and toss it onto the counter, eyeing the pile of piano splinters with a mournful air and mutters almost to himself, “but did it have to be the piano, Mazikeen?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She went for the piano first.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, that does sound like her. Hang on,” Lucifer rounds on her, “you were here?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe’s stomach drops into her shoes, “oh, um, yes. It was the morning after...well after. I was, uh...still here.” By the end her voice is no more than a whisper, her eyes irresistibly drawn to the balcony she passed that cold night sitting vigil. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer’s eyes trail to where she is looking, his face somewhat pinched. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah. Perhaps we should return to Lux-” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe cuts him off in her rush, the crush of bodies against her bruised frame in the nightclub below sounding nothing short of a nightmare. “No! I mean, uh, no thank you. I’m not sure I’m up for a crowd. This is fine Lucifer, I’m fine. Can we just...relax maybe?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes of course,” Lucifer says, falling into that rushed, anxious energy he gets when he’s feeling a bit guilty, “make yourself comfortable-” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He trails off, hand hanging mid-air in gesture, realizing the entirety of his sitting area is gone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Really?!” he exclaims, “the entire thing? And the chairs? That was Italian leather!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait, I thought you came home to change? You didn’t notice before?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lucifer snaps, “I told you,I  asked dear Linda to grab a bag of items for both of us. I never left the hospital.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe’s knees very nearly buckle. She has to get back on steadier ground. This is one time she really, especially doesn’t want her penchant for crying at the slightest provocation, good or bad, to jump out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She hurled all of it off the balcony,” Chloe informs him, pushing them back toward lighthearted. “It was very impressive.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He blinks at her. “I can’t bloody believe this. You think it’s funny don’t you? And the balcony furniture will be all dusty too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe shrugs, pinching her fingers together, “maybe just a little.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer looks somewhat pouty, but probably more due to his limited ability to offer hospitality rather than actually losing high-end furniture to a demonic rage and the force of gravity. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well,” he starts, eyes sweeping the room for options.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer, it’s fine,” she heads him off, “why don’t you just get comfortable first? I’ll pour us drinks while you assess the damage? She left your bedroom alone, not sure about your closet though.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer whirls towards his closet, looking alarmed, but pauses to glance back at her every few seconds. She gestures a little </span>
  <em>
    <span>go on</span>
  </em>
  <span> and he smiles over his shoulder, disappearing into his bedroom. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>His bedroom</span>
  </em>
  <span>, her heart seems to echo back at her, thumping painfully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She turns to the bar just to have something to do. First she gently works her arm out of the sling, rubbing at the red strap mark over her shoulder, and carefully testing the range of her arm. She will have to be tender with it, but the strength is unhindered. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A quick assessment overall reveals that she’s stiff, and a little sore, but the bulk of her injuries are on their way to healing. Her elbow and the stitches along her hairline hurt the worst, everything else is just a rough ache, nothing more. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shakily pours two glasses from the crystal decanter he’s already somehow managed to replace amidst the remaining wreckage. She pours back half of hers right off the bat and refills it before she tucks the decanter into the crook of her good arm and walks the glasses towards his bedroom.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer?” She calls, knowing that his version of “relax” could be anything from taking off his shoes to being stretched naked across his bed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, Detective?” he calls as he strides back into sight. He’s lost his shoes and vest, in the middle of the act of rolling up one sleep. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She holds out the second glass. He finishes the turn on his sleeve and takes it gently from the bottom, his fingertips just brushing hers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your arm?” he says sharply, fingers catching on the forearm of the sleeve that he now notices has an arm properly through.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shrugs a little, wincing at the tightness in her shoulders. “It’ll be okay for a little bit, the strap was digging into my neck and giving me a headache.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Despite the fact that Chloe left her shirt half unbuttoned with nothing underneath, Lucifer’s eyes remain on her face, searching. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Please, make yourself comfortable,” he says, finally breaking and gesturing to the plush wingback chair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s wearing </span>
  <em>
    <span>his shirt</span>
  </em>
  <span>. With his little monogram LM inside the collar in bright red silk thread. The one that hangs too long over her hands and is just a little bit short to wear without pants unless you are cleaning the house alone or about to take the shirt off too, for whatever reason.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She catches just the glimpse of a look on his face before he tucks it away again. Something deeply wanting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She steps away to set the decanter on the side table and settles in; leaning over to untie her shoes with one hand, the other still carefully holding her drink. When she’s done, she tucks her feet under her and looks up to find Lucifer still standing in the middle of the room, watching her with naked wonder. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She wonders if she’ll ever stop blushing, “how was your closet?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He steps a little closer, gently tapping his glass to the rim of hers in cheers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Could be worse. It looks as if she used bourbon to get a fire going but seemed to think better of it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe nearly spits her drink on the floor, “she set your closet on fire?!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’d been right here, how had she missed it?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Only a few of the suits, not even my favorite one. Small mercies.” He paces a little, looking more disturbed by the thought of Maze exercising mercy than he does about the pile of charred high-end clothing in his closet. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ha, yeah, small mercies,” she repeats, wondering if she’ll ever really understand the bond Maze and Lucifer share. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer sits heavily on the edge of his mussed bed, pouring back the bourbon in one go. As he lowers the cup, she catches him looking down at his bed with something like confusion. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She realizes with a horrible blush that a pile of her clothes still sits on the floor near his feet and sure enough, his eyes track across the clothes, up to her, across the expanse of mussed bed, and back to her, delight blooming across his face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Were you sleeping in my bed?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She tells herself it’s stupid to be embarassed. Sleeping in his bed is remarkably low on the list of dumb shit she’s done for love of him. She pours back the rest of her own bourbon for courage. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What can I say,” she coughs a little, cursing her hot face, “it turned out to be my favorite place to be when nothing else makes sense.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer sprawls sideways, rubbing his face luxuriously into the fabric. Just one of his dark eyes finds her among the soft folds and she feels as if a snake in a trance. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mmmm… I think it might be mine now too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What was it before?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My piano bench, when you sit beside me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He utters truths like dark wine, self-assured and lingering.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think you have the better one.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He props himself up on an elbow to look at her fully, eyebrow cocked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you thinking about?” he asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her tongue feels glued to the roof of her mouth, “Why?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His grin is a bloom of desire, “I want to know exactly what that look on your face means so I can memorize it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>How can she say no to that? “I missed you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His eyes go wide and he turns his face into the sheets to hide it. When he emerges again, his face is once again sly and mischievous. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know, it’s just occurred to me how many times you’ve slept in my bed and yet we still haven’t had sex. Officer, I believe that might be a crime.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A laugh bubbles out of her, delighted with how light and pleased she feels. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well,” she says, standing with the decanter in hand, “I can’t say it’s a law I’ve heard of…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She grabs his hand where it holds his glass, holding the lot steady to pour the decanter. He openly watches her, his eyes darting from her face to their hands and everywhere between. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But perhaps we should check the rule book, just in case.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he lifts his drink again, she’s pleased to see his hand is trembling. But, as soon as she catches the movement, he pours back the amber liquid in one more go and tosses the cup to the side. It thunks heavily against the shag pile of the carpet at the exact same moment that he surges up into her, a creature of raw, electric desire.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The kiss is a balancing act. She’s only upright for the grace of his arms; he’s holding on so tightly it's like he’s afraid he’ll drift away without her anchor.  He kisses her with the length and breadth of his mouth, his body, touching her at every point possible. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The decanter starts to slip from her fingers and she jerks back in surprise, gripping it tightly once more. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer looks dazed, his touch tightening and sliding by turns. She turns in his arm to set the decanter on the floor as far from them as she can reach. As she turns back to him, she deliberately presses a knee to the bed beside him, forcing him to sit back down so she can settle in his lap.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This time Lucifer,” she says, her voice something low and wicked and deliciously new in her chest, “I’m gonna say this in the clearest way possible.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She slides her hand into the open collar of his shirt, her touch bold and without waver. She watches the path of her own fingers along his skin with fascination but when she glances up to meet his eyes, he can’t seem to look away from her face.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She waits until her lips are close enough to his that he’ll feel the air along his own when she speaks, “stay with me tonight?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>*** (E rating from here on out)</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He trails his hand up her thighs, thumbs teasing at the edge of her shirt which she’s left unbuttoned to her stomach. There is a feeling roaring through his chest that he doesn’t have a name for, but it has the touch of wildfire. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Is this temptation? Is </span>
  <em>
    <span>this</span>
  </em>
  <span> desire? Is this his Father, finally teaching him to worship again?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer tenses, stomping on that thought with menace. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Everything okay?” she asks, her lips a brush at the rise of his cheekbone, her breath gentle on his eyelashes something of a blessing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wraps his arms around her, ranging up to plane her back, carefully </span>
  <em>
    <span>carefully</span>
  </em>
  <span> avoiding holding too tight or jostling her injuries, turning his face into her neck. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ask me again,” he murmurs into her skin. “Ask me what I desire.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She frames his face in her hands, gentle and considering. “Lucifer Morningstar...what do you desire?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You,” he gasps, feeling like it’s been punched out of him, “this.” He presses his face into her skin, panting, an echo of the fear and panic Achlys had wrought crawling up his throat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She curls her fingers soothingly into his hair, inexplicably patient with this ugly, confused part of him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he feels like the world is mostly right way up again, he wastes no time in diving into her. He doubles his grip around her waist, sending her tipping back and laughing madly in his arms while he explores the plane of skin that stretches from the dip of her throat to her navel.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe is delightfully pliable in his arms, boneless and endless at first, letting him explore his fill as she’s panting into the dark. He hits a ticklish spot though, just below her sternum, and she twitches away with a gasp, flexing her stomach under his tongue and lifting herself smoothly to meet his mouth with hers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She is aggressive and pleading by turns, delightfully unashamed of either, and Lucifer answers her in kind. She bites into his mouth while he sinks bruising fingertips into her hips; he devotes himself to the inches of skin that cover the pulse in her neck as she runs her nails over the shell of his ear, granting him a whispered stream of surprisingly filthy thoughts.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She pulls back suddenly and he starts to protest until he realizes she’s not moving away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Unbutton the cuffs so I can take this off?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer lifts her right hand reverently to his mouth, letting her fingers slide across his lips as he unfolds the first sleeve and works the button free. Her fingers twitch to touch more firmly, but he turns away, lifting her left hand. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This time, she boldly slides two fingers into his mouth. He curls his tongue around them, nipping at the pads, as the cuff comes free under his fingers. Her nails just catch the edge of his tongue and he doesn’t fight the moan that climbs out of his throat and around her touch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she pulls her hand back, she drags the slickness of his mouth across his lips, and he chases with his tongue. He watches her watch his mouth with a devotion he never thought to have directed at him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He slides his hands across the expanse of her ribs and then up and across her shoulders, pulling her shirt halfway off and trapping her arms at the elbow and the exact same moment she leans in to kiss him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer brings his hands across the inside of her elbows, locking in the trap of her shirt and putting pressure on the thin, sensitive skin there, without jostling the cut on the outer side. She pulls from their kiss abruptly, her breath punching out of her in surprise. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay?” he asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nods, swallows hard, and nods again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Out loud please.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes!” she snaps, bucking in his grip and setting his head spinning. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He works his way up her neck and over her jaw, back to her mouth, taking her breathless little sounds as all the apology he’ll ever need. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re wearing too many clothes,” she murmurs, as she shrugs out of his shirt and tosses it to the side. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Six of his top ten, “Bits of Chloe Decker I’m fond of,” are currently on full glorious display in the last waning rays of gold sunlight and Lucifer is distracted trying naming all the colors in her eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He can’t help it, she is mesmerizing. He feels like he could spend an eternity just watching her face, engrossed in every flash of her tongue behind her teeth, every shy blush. He’s so lost in watching her, memorizing her, that before he realizes it, she has him halfway out of his own shirt and her fingers have just wrapped around his belt. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It occurs to him that he’s never been so delightfully surprised before. Even if he doesn’t know exactly what’s coming, he can usually read the energy long before the next move is made. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But with Chloe, it’s lightning. It’s a whole lightning storm. Her hands new and white-metal hot every single time she touches him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer?” she says, sounding amused. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hm?” he responds, too slow, tearing his eyes away from the sight of her slender hands on him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a sight almost perfect enough to replace Heaven in his memory for good. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She tugs a little, grinning. “At the risk of sounding like one of the bad pornos I managed to avoid, can I please suck you off?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her nails scratch lightly at the course hair low on his stomach and he </span>
  <em>
    <span>wants</span>
  </em>
  <span> on a level that borders on painful.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You-” he starts to say but she shakes her head, scratching at him again, with intention this time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let’s take the edge off,” she says, “I really don’t want to be distracted when it’s my turn and I expect you to take your time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What the fuck,” Lucifer feels himself say, in a voice that he doesn’t even recognize as his own. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe ducks her head, “was that too much?” She slaps hands over her blushing face and winces when she hits a cut, “oh my god, it was, wasn’t it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Please do not bring Him into this,” Lucifer says on reflex. He knows they can’t really help it. He backtracks, gently pulling her hands away from her face, “you think the Devil doesn’t swear from time to time?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You aren’t usually quite so American about it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Perhaps being around all the testosterone riddled jocks at the precinct has addled my brains. You’ll be next. We should go on an extended tropical vacation, for your health of course.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She kisses him sweetly, “oh, for my health huh?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her mouth is crisp as fresh hibiscus and he wants to chase it again and again. “Absolutely. Of course, you shall need someone to wait on your hand and foot, see to your needs and all that. I, obviously, volunteer as tribute.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That was a pop culture reference I actually got.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Figures it’s the depressing one,” he mumbles, focused on her skin again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shoves at his shirt, a little roughly, and he relishes her impatience. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He lifts his wrists, still trapped in the cuffs of his own shirt, in a mirror of her earlier movement. He watches her watch his hands and, </span>
  <em>
    <span>oh, </span>
  </em>
  <span>the things he has to show her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She kisses at his fingers in kind while the cuffs come free under her hands. She allows him to trace the shape of her lips softly, to slide his thumb across the sharp edge of one canine, tongue darting. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She is gluttony and lust. She is pure, radiant starlight. She’s the embodiment of the free will he’s been trying to understand all along, a balance of give and take that has nothing to do with good and evil but rather the each sin laid out like a tarot spread, some reversed and some paired and some reminding you of other things, long forgotten. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He gets lost in the darkness of the healing scratches at the corner of her mouth, seeing his own pride writ in the shape of them. She shies a little under his touch and he pulls back immediately, worried he hurt her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her face is soft and fond now. “It’s okay, they don’t hurt. I just keep forgetting they are there. Do they look very bad?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her own fingers come to her face, gently probing at the scratches around her mouth and trailing to her cheek, her face falling a little.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Bad? </span>
  </em>
  <span>His mind seems to echo. On what Earthly plane could an injury she sustained at his hands, or rather, his lack of strength, be any fault but his own?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bad?” he echoes out loud, still not completely understanding. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her fingers fan a little, covering, and she ducks her face again. She’s spent far too much of this evening hiding from him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He catches her before she can slide from his arms, “no, wait!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She pointedly will not meet his eyes. “Look, if you’re doing this because you feel guilty…” she mumbles. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer goes still under her hands.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” he asks, very quietly, still processing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she looks up, she looks a little bit angry. There is a flush just starting in her cheeks. “If you’re doing this,” she gestures between them roughly, “because you feel guilty or whatever then don’t bother.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She tries to climb out of his lap and he clings to her desperately. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not,” he rushes, “I’m not, I mean, this - oh bollocks - I am not happy that you were hurt, and by a creature I should have protected you from, but that’s not why…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He gestures between them, at a loss for words.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At least she’s finally looking at him properly again, even if her expression is a complete mystery to him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why what?” she asks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>How can he articulate what she is to him? More than friend or love, more than divine or infernal, she is free and cunning and kind and strong and soft and fearless. She is every contradiction he’s ever relished.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He rests his forehead gently to hers, imploring her to understand. To give voice to the things he does not understand himself, but sees in her eyes anyway. All the knowledge of the tree granted to Eve, expanded and deepened and grown over millennia, so that she is a whole thriving orchard of knowledge returned to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She kisses just the corner of his mouth, then again, and then works her way across his cheekbone and temple, over the shell of his ear, tongue sliding along the curve in a way that makes him hold on for dear life. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She purposely scrapes her lips across the stubble of his jaw and smiles in a way he can feel to his bones. She goes to squirm out of his lap and he redoubles his hold, relishing in her delighted laugh. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You have to let me go for a second, Lucifer. Or were you planning on staying exactly like this all night?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She gestures between them. Her topless but the rest of her still criminally covered, sitting regally in his lap and looking pleased. Him, sitting on the edge of the bed, gloriously trapped by her, but also disappointingly still mostly dressed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know, I think I could.” he replies, in all seriousness. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She ducks her head, deliciously flushed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Or perhaps not,” he says again, diving for her mouth. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The kiss is deep and wanting, but unrushed, a thorough exploration. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally she tips her head back, chest heaving to catch her breath, only remaining upright because of Lucifer’s hold on her</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, no you really need to let me go for a second. There are way too many clothes in this situation,” she says between breaths while he explores the soft skin over her top rib.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He scrapes his teeth across the underside of one perfect breast, it tastes of cumulus clouds.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Lucifer</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” she says again, an entirely new tone to her voice he’s never heard before. Commanding and helpless all in one. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He lets her slide from his lap, reluctant and dragging, her looking like the cat who got the canary the entire time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There are words pouring from his mouth in a breathless torrent, but he’s not actually sure what they are. He hopes it’s English at least.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He reaches for her, but she captures his hands, lacing her fingers with his. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My turn first,” she says, so close he can practically feel her mouth already. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She works down the length of his neck, lingers on the plane of his collarbones. She tests her teeth against the angle of the bone there and he moans in encouragement, “fuck yes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She bites harder and he sees starbursts, back arching. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s it,” he distantly hears her say and </span>
  <em>
    <span>Holybloodyfuckinghell how is she this perfect?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her tongue glides in a lazy arc around one nipple, testing, tasting, and Lucifer thinks that this is it. This is how he dies. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Either of embarrassment from coming untouched like a human teenager or his heart is just going to give out or his father will smite him in her arms. He’s not actually sure which sounds worse.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He jumps at the electric wetness of her licking broadly across his other nipple. </span>
</p>
<p><span>“Holybloodyfuckinghell,”</span> <span>he says, out loud this time.</span></p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe grins up and him and he has to tear his eyes away from her or this is going to be over before it started. Not that he wouldn’t be ready to go again in like ten minutes anyway, it’s just the point of the matter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe counts each rib with her mouth, nails draggin the entire way. She discovers the ticklish spot just below his navel and smiles up at him in joyish satisfaction.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He touches a reverent thumb to the corner of her mouth and she curls around to kiss his palm.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This okay?” she asks quietly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer smiles down at her, drinking her up. “You are a masterpiece, Chloe.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The smile bursts across her face before she can hide it against his hip, so flushed that he can feel the heat of her face on his skin.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean ir,” he says quietly, tracing the shell of her ear with a finger.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She startles him just a little by jumping for his belt. The clatter it makes as she wrestles with it strangely obscene. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Stand up,” she coaxes, “take these off.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As he stands, she settles on her knees before him, already reaching for his waistband when she freezes halfway. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do we need uh,” she pauses, cringing a little, “like protection?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh</span>
  </em>
  <span>, his brain says in a small startled voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She waves vaguely at her upper arm. “I have, you know, an implant thing. So I’m fine. I’m good there, I just meant-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She trails off again, gesturing incomprehensibly at him but a lightbulb seems to click on anyway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If you’re asking if I’m clean, then yes. I don’t need it, can’t catch anything, but I get tested regularly anyway because it makes people feel better.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She lets out a little huff of surprised laughter. “Yeah, uh, I mean yes. That’s good. Thank you. I’m clean too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Chloe,” he says softly, waiting until she looks him in the eye. He tucks one hand under her jaw, lifting her face. “I want you to know right now. You can ask me anything. You can tell me anything. You can do </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” the breath punches out of him, “you want, I will inform you if I don’t wish to proceed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She smooths her hands over his thighs and up, nails dragging. She never breaks eye contact. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I feel the same Lucifer. I want you to talk to me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“In that case,” Lucifer says with a wink, “can I tell you how much I want to see your lips wrapped around my cock?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She swallows hard, eyes going flinty and determined, like she’s on the trail of a case. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Heaven above he cannot wait to see her in the throes of passion on the tail of a particularly successful case. She must be </span>
  <em>
    <span>glorious</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That was my idea,” she replies, already tugging at his clothes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He helps her help him shimmy out of the last of his garments and then sits to pull his socks off. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She laughs, watchful eyes glittering. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” he asks, feeling strangely self conscious. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A no socks in bed man. I’m relieved. That’s a dumpable offense.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A laugh jumps out of him in reply, surprised and pleased. “Of course not, I wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>raised </span>
  </em>
  <span>in Hell you know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She grins, shuffling forward on her knees to him. Her hands are spots of heat on his kneecaps and then gliding upward, searching, encouraging. He lets his hips fall open without shame, making space for her to be even closer. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her fingers drag over the soft inside of his thighs and he can just see her face in the orange rays of sun clinging to the horizon, hungry and wanting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She brings her fingers gently to the base of his cock, a gentle, exploring touch, and brings her mouth up to drag over him. She maps him out in a litany of teasing butterfly touches until he’s panting and arching in her grip.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She pulls back for a second, breathing a little heavily herself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m certainly not going to inform you that you are a work of art,” she says, smiling up at him in obvious, caramel soft pleasure, “because then I’d never hear the end of it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>A work of art</span>
  </em>
  <span>, his chest seems to collapse inward and then expand back out, too tight. If he’s a single glass pane in a cathedral window, then then she’s the whole cathedral. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She lends him no quarter, no mercy at all, diving back in to suck him to the root without hesitation. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fucking hell!” he shouts, curling over her as she </span>
  <em>
    <span>laughs</span>
  </em>
  <span> around him, the brilliant vicious sweetness of her electric in his blood. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She pulls off with an obscene pop and a gasping, laughing whoosh of air. She presses a shy hand against her mouth. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know,” she says with a giggle, “I wasn’t sure I could still do that. Damn, go me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer yanks her in for a kiss that is more him licking at her mouth than a kiss but she pants shallowly at the touch, her nails dragging along his hips and down the inside of his thighs. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He pulls back with lazy satisfaction, holding her up until she doesn’t slide like jelly in his arms. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’s so lost in the haze of her that it takes him a moment to realize there is blood smeared across her mouth. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He almost drops her at the sight, instead jostling her a little roughly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer?” she asks, holding herself up by gripping his arms.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His hands frame her face, a prayer of apology, “Are you hurting? Your mouth-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She glances down at his own mouth and then winces a little, her fingers coming up to her lip. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oops, ouch,” she says with a grin, “sorry, that’s kind of gross. I’ll go clean up.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He holds her when she tries to move from him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” he says, “I shouldn’t have-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This time she’s the one who holds his face in soft, understanding hands. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You didn’t do this Lucifer. And you didn’t hurt me. I hadn’t even noticed. Okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He swallows on all the words he does know. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She kisses him, sweetly at first and then suddenly aggressive. He’s well on his way to cheerfully surrendering to her when she bites him roughly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There,” she says, licking her lips clean and poking gently at the cut there to make sure it’s no longer bleeding, “now we’re even.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe  wipes her thumb gently along the edge of his mouth in turn, cleaning the little starburst of copper he can taste there. She crawls back down his body, urging him to scoot to the edge of the bed and kneeling in the vee of his legs. From this angle he can drag his fingers over her hair, pulling it out of her way and touching every patch of skin along the way. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe dances her fingers over the crease of his hips and sharply across the inside of his thighs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Will you tell me what you like?” she asks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer chokes on a laugh. “I don’t know that you’re capable of doing anything I wouldn’t like.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looks up at him. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Is this what people feel like when he asks them?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you…” she pauses just long enough to drive him mad, “nervous?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As soon as the last word leaves her lips, his entire body freezes up. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Him! </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Freezing! </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In the middle of sex! </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a nightmare of the </span>
  <em>
    <span>highest order.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His lips twist against the lie, so instead he struggles to cough out a laugh. “Nervous?” He repeats back at her, cursing at the near break in his voice. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She crawls back into his lap, hands dancing up his ribs and chest the whole way, making him smile despite himself. “That’s not a no.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>How is that she wields power over him like this? Him, one of God’s first angels, an architect of fire and stardust and the very light that lims her body, and still all he wants is to give her truth. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s new for me,” he finally manages to say, eyes carefully trained on her collarbone, “to be with someone who doesn’t share all their desires.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There is a little punched out breath from her in reply and he glances at her face, a glimmer of assessment there he thinks he might have seen in the mirror before. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is that what you want Lucifer, for me to tell you all my desires?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She leans down and breaths the words into his mouth and all he can do is exist on air she grants him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I want to know you are enjoying yourself. That this is what you truly want.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Trust me Lucifer,” she says, her lips brushing his now, “I’ll make sure you know. But only if you promise me…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes?” He leans into her touch, her mouth sliding to his jaw.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Promise me the same and...”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Call me Chloe.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This he can do. “Chloe.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her smile is the brilliant flash of a newborn star cradled in his hands once more. He hasn’t felt this close to them, the celestial bodies, the vast expanse of shimmering sky, since the Fall. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He kisses her again, just for that, to impress upon her that she is all the night sky to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She pulls back a little and he unashamedly chases, nearly toppling them back off the bed. She yelps, grabbing at his shoulders, and laughs delightedly when he reels her back in. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t go,” he says breathlessly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her smile softens, “I’m not going anywhere. Let’s just take a breather for a second. Would you get me a glass of water please?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>He’d trek up Everest and melt spring water from snowflakes that haven’t even touched the ground yet.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, of course.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She kisses him again, softly, dragging, before extricating herself from his lap. She tumbles only once and blushes delightfully when he catches her by her good elbow. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer doesn’t bother to put any clothes back on, wandering out of the room in the same state she put him in, ruffled and naked. He glances back several times as he departs the room, each time her smile growing wider, and knowing in his heart that he never would have passed the Orpheus path as she did. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He grabs a bottle of chilled champagne and whatever icelandic spring water the Brittney’s have been drinking lately, as they often stock the various fridges in Lux and the penthouse for parties. He sends a quick text to Patrick to have security on the elevator tonight.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he comes back up the stairs to his bedroom, champagne in one hand and water and carefully balanced champagne flutes in the other, he finds that she’s slipped back into his shirt but lost the rest of her clothes and made herself comfortable in the exact center of his bed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There are brief, shining moments where Lucifer finally gets just a glimpse of what his father was up to with his humanity scheme. Most of the time it just makes him angrier as he dwells on all the reasons he just wanted a little of that freedom for himself, a little of their passion and free will. Instead all he got was Hell and an immortal life time of being the biggest scapegoat in history.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bloody hell, he hates goats</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But, very rarely, there are moments where he’s thankful. Breathtakingly, stunningly, hugely thankful that they exist at all and he gets to move among them, no matter how little or long it might be for.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>This is one of those moments,</span>
  </em>
  <span> he thinks, his stomach lurching with hunger.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe shifts to her knees on the bed, sliding amongst the satin sheets like a rising wave. The last clinging rays of sunlight catch the gold of her hair, cascading around her shoulders, wreathing her in flame. She’s left the shirt unbuttoned, hanging open from neck to navel, the curves of her just hinted at in the shadows.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>An angel knows worship. Reverence is built into their bones. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Of course, Lucifer thinks idly, he’s just always worshiped the wrong things. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe is easily the worst and best of all those things. It scares him a little, what she calls up from the depths of him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a roiling storm in his chest, the desire to be free, to be uncontrolled, and the equal desire to lay himself at her feet and let her choose his fate. He wonders if she sees the extent of his devotion. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He doesn’t know how to exist any less intensely, it’s how he was created, it’s what Hell forged him into. But, she’s always seen right through him and yet she stays; an enigma he’ll never solve. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He would go to war for her. He wants to grow her a garden in Hell. Sword and shield. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you thinking about?” she asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You.” he replies simply, honest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You just gonna stand there and think or are you coming back to bed?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He can’t help the smile that leaps to his face, deeply delighted by her unexpected brazenness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hands her the water first, letting her take a long drink and spending the entire time unashamedly watching the bob of her throat. Once she sets it aside, he has her take the champagne glasses and sets about carefully opening the bottle. Peeling back the foil in a striptease, working the cage off and gently rocking the cork out in small, circular motions until it slides free with the quietest pop. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She watches his hands the entire time, hypnotized.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is that how you open them? Is it not supposed to pop?” she asks, handing him the glasses one by one to fill.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He snorts, “of course not. That’s just impatience and a waste of champagne. You have to work it out gently.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He waggles his eyebrows at her and considers it a win when she laughs. He sets the bottle on the nightstand and accepts his glass from her, clinking the rims together softly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Cheers,” he says quietly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“To us,” Chloe replies, clinking them again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“To us,” he murmurs, tasting it in his mouth. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He </span>
  <em>
    <span>likes </span>
  </em>
  <span>it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He </span>
  <em>
    <span>really likes</span>
  </em>
  <span> it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a taste he’s never had before, not smooth and gold as bourbon or rich and deep as millenia-aged wine.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He finds himself ravenous in a way he’s also never tasted before. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He makes a show of setting down his champagne glass and then taking hers and doing the same, all while she watches in amusement, before he practically dives for her, framing her body against the fall. The air is filled with her surprised, chiding laughter. A laugh which breaks off with a satisfying gulp as he dedicates himself to the inches of skin that cross the plane of her right hip. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer finds himself both achingly desperate and yet in no rush at all, wondering if he’d actually care if he ever actually got off and needing to get his mouth on every last shadowed inch of her in the same breath. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She writhes and curls under his touch, her head thrown back, mouth open and panting. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He pushes aside the shirt to find she is bare except for a pair of red silk underwear and doesn’t quite contain his own groan.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’s watched artists breath life into paintings and frescoes and marble. He’s listened on as Bach composed melodies. He’s watched entire forests grow green and lush, full of tropical birds and sleek jungle cats. Never has he witnessed a masterpiece that compares to her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The most perfect part? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That she’s not perfection. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This is something the majority of humanity has never seemed to grasp. That the beauty always lied in the imperfections. Chloe is Mona Lisa’s dangerous smirk, the softness of Doidalsas’ crouching Venus, Artemisia’s wrath, Nefertiti’s watchingful eyes, Rachmaninoff’s particular organized chaos.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It makes him want to touch her like the piano, focused and sensitive.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer realizes between one heartbeat and the next that, in a way, his power does work on her. The reply was just in a different language than he was used to. Now that he’s caught the tune of it, he begins to build a dictionary of every syllable of her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He finds that it’s not only easy, but immensely, awe-inspiringly, beautiful. A brand new glittering galaxy spread before him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer,” Chloe chokes out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She says </span>
  <em>
    <span>his </span>
  </em>
  <span>name. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That actually happens less than anyone would expect.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s yet another thing she is perfection in. Someday she will say other versions of his name or titles or, Dad forbid, well...Dad’s name; but tonight, the first of a hopeful endless, she said </span>
  <em>
    <span>his name</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My turn,” he growls more than he intends. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She blinks down at him over the rise of her own chest and licks at her mouth in anticipation. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer may not be able to read minds, but if there is anything he can spot a mile off, it’s someone who hasn’t been given the attention they desire in far, </span>
  <em>
    <span>far</span>
  </em>
  <span> too long. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That said, it's a crime of the most infernal nature (and he would know) that Chloe fairly melts with even his lightest touch. A whole glorious desert waiting for just the right monsoon and subject to the, no doubt, worst drought the world has ever known in the form of her terrible choice in exes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I hope you’re not being quiet on my account?” he asks, catching her biting into her lips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She tries to laugh, but it comes out choked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Every endless kilometer of her body is hot and glistening under his hands. He forgets sometimes, behind her brilliance and platform boots and stone cold badassery, that she is small in some ways too, and is distracted for several long minutes by the way her waist fits into his arms and the daydream of fucking her upright against the stained glass window. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer?” She asks, fondly annoyed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He smiles, “sorry, I was thinking about all those lovely, delicious things you whispered in my ear earlier and which one I wanted to try first.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She blushes, the sweetest cotton candy pink irony of her bravery in the face of her desire.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wastes no time setting out to explore the rest of her. Each new sound is a reason to stay and draw it out of her again and again, but he has a goal tonight and there is always tomorrow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Tomorrow</span>
  </em>
  <span> his heart sings like a ridiculous disney songbird as he drags the silk of her underwear down her legs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After yet another eternity of tasteless, ashy air, the flavor of her is indescribable, overwhelming.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s everything the Mortal plane has ever had to offer, sweet ripe fruit and rich red wine, crackling sugar and sharp-edged spice. So much more than divine or holy, she is </span>
  <em>
    <span>alive</span>
  </em>
  <span> and writhing beneath his hands, religion of a sort he thought he knew and realizes now he’s barely scratched the surface of. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sinks her hands into his hair, nails catching, and rolls into his touch. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer tries several combinations of touches until he finds one that makes her arch up on the bed with a shout, and he sticks with it. Every poor sod with a cock thinks they’re Dad’s gift to Earth and clits everywhere but the truth is patience and consistency, no matter the tool one is working with. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe keeps sucking in great lungfuls of air and then sort of coughing them back out in breathless laughter. Her spine is pulling tighter than a bow and he thinks, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I could live in this moment. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There is no time in her arms. Not in the way of Hell, slow and molasses, or of Amenadiel, frozen altogether. No. This is floating in deep space. This is drifting on the event horizon as you watch a planet form rings in the distance. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she begins to drip down his chin, he gives it a few more seconds before he pulls away, and Chloe shouts his name in disbelief.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He laughs wetly against her thigh, his own breath heaving in his chest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You mother fu-” Chloe starts to say when Lucifer sinks his teeth into the soft inside of her thigh and slides two long fingers into her in one slick move and she actually screams his name at a volume he hopes they heard on the sidewalk below.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>There is no Heaven when the only angel is in his arms. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bloody hell he sounds like Keats.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oddly, that’s what finally cements this as reality for him. Nothing in Heaven or Hell or any corner of the Earth had allowed him to understand the romantic classics; but with her? It's not only crystal clear? It’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>beautiful</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sets his mouth back to her, dragging the tips of his fingers lightly upward every time he pulls out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer. Lucifer!” she just keeps saying his name in a million breathless, shocked, delighted tones. “Oh, oh fuck-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She cums a little quicker than he anticipated, which is honestly okay because he has a feeling his first round is going to be embarrassingly quick too. He rocks her through it in waves so that by the time she’s not a live wire, she’s soft and pliable as fresh saltwater taffy. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He takes his time licking at her until she pushes him away, and then mouths his way up the length of her body, spending a little extra time this round on her breasts.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he reaches her mouth, she is the very picture of the cat in the cream. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, okay, I think I get your ego now,” she says, “it’s well earned.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Chloe,” he says in his best, simmering voice. She squeaks just a little bit. “That was mere foreplay love, we’re only just getting started.:</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe’s eyes are wide. “Don’t forget Lucifer, I just got out of the hospital, I’m not up for some marathon-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know,” he says, “that’s why when the third time you cum, I’m going-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Third?” She laughs in his face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“-to set you up in a pile of pillows and then feed you snacks and then we are not setting an alarm is what I was going to say actually.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh,” she says, looking at him a little strangely, “that does sound nice.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, I thought so too. Could I get back to it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She moves her hands in a little pretentious wave like, </span>
  <em>
    <span>do proceed. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe it’s not the first move someone might expect a well-traveled Devil to make, but Lucifer occasionally enjoys good old classic missionary sex. He grabs a pillow and she’s already moving so he can tuck it under her back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you like a jedi or something?” he asks, in the same tone he used all those years ago and it draws a giggle out of her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, but I can read your mind.” She bonelessly stretches over the supportive pillow, already looking sleepy and warm.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh really?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You were worried that I was going to judge you for wanting to have some classic romantic face-to-face sex.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He gapes, “how </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span> you do that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know you,” she replies, “and I was going to ask anyway. I think my knees have done all they can for today.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tucks himself between her legs, said knees bumping into his ribs. He leans down to kiss the cap of one, gentle with the dark ugly scrape still healing there. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You must tell me if you hurt,” he says, trying to remember he wanted to be serious about this. Other than the obvious injuries, what should I avoid?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She tries to take stock of her various bumps and bruises, struggling to get off the body high she’s riding. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m a little stiff I guess, and my face is achy, but other than that it’s okay.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Would you like a massage instead?:</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looks at him oddly for a moment. “You’d do that? Just stop what we are doing and give me a proper massage?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer feels a little hurt, “of course I would! I’m not an animal.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Unless you ask me to be,” he adds with a wink. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you,” she says and his heart does a little lindyhop, “I hope it’s not weird of me to say it now. I’ve been told I’m a closet romantic.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He swoops down to kiss her, carefully holding his weight off her body while still touching her at every point possible. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He breaks away for only a moment to scramble in the bedside drawer for lube. He tosses aside several colorful fruity flavored things for a small, simple clear bottle. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She watches him silently the whole time, scratching her fingers along his thighs and looking a little hypnotized. He slicks himself up and then takes his fingers to her again, relifshing in the way her eyes roll back in her head. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ready?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nods, throat bobbing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He lines himself up, teasing her a little until she makes an impatience, breathy sound. He slides home in one smooth thrust the exact same moment she starts to say his name.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Luci- oh fuck!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She throws her head back, fingers tangling in the sheets and rocking with the movement.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’s saying her name over and over uncontrollably, just a murmur, as starbursts seem to go off behind his eyes. He pushes and pulls with her body, encouraging the space between them to something slick and wet and hot. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Despite his honest intention to spoil her rotten in a pile of soft bedding, he really should have known she wouldn’t be content to lay back and be pampered. It’s just not in her nature. He’s careful and calculated how he holds her, avoiding the darker bruises and hyper aware of her various bandages, but she doesn’t seem to care in the slightest, nothing but wild enthusiasm in the sinuous movements of her body. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She murmurs his name when he holds her tightly by the waist, whispers sweet things and dirty things and nonsensical sounds as he mouths down the line of her neck to her chest, scrabbling at him with just the hint of nails.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe pulls one leg up along his ribs, twisting her spine to get even higher, and he obliges, gently lifting her knee over his shoulder. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay?” he asks, setting his mouth to the delicate skin at the inside edge of her knee.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes,” she says in a breathless rush, face just a little tight. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He slows his pace to something lazy and dragging, torment for them both, but oh the sweetest kind. She groans a little, but her hips are still rolling in a come and go tide, chasing the pleasure. He sinks his fingers into the muscle of her thigh, soothing in the direction of the muscle to work the soreness from her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe sighs dreamily under his hands, her gold hair splayed over the sheets and every curve of her seeming to shine in the growing dark, the room lit only by the distant, fuzzy glow that is all the lights of LA waking up for the evening.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who would have thought you’d be a horrible tease?” She says, between panting breaths. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer finds himself laughing breathlessly with her, his heart so light it almost makes him dizzy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You made me wait first,” he points out, thrusting into her sharply just to hear her surprised moan.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I believe,” she says, stopping to heave in a breath, “oh fuck- I mean, didn’t I - something about Hell freezing over?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well if you wait right here I can go take care of that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She kisses him and kisses him, her mouth a smile the whole time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I suppose it can wait,” she whispers, sinking her fingers into his hair. “But only if you get a move on.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes ma’am,” he says with a grin, “as you wish.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He pulls nearly all the way out and then watches her stretch around him as he slides back in..</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer, Lucifer~,” she pants. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is it, Chloe?” He says like butter wouldn’t melt, drawing out the syllables of her name. It’s a test of the most brutal kind to keep his voice steady.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She arches, stretching her arms to brace against the headboard in order to meet him sharply at every move. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Bloody hell this is not going to last long. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer pulls him to her, an arm tight in the small of her back to change the angle so that now she jolts with every thrust, little moans of pleasure dripping from her mouth louder and louder. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’s so engrossed in watching her, the slide of sweat between her breasts, her hair shifting in gold waves, the stretch of her mouth around the syllables of his name, that he actually keeps finding himself forgetting to breathe now and again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer,” she says, in still another voice he’s never heard before and hopes he’ll never stop hearing again. “Lucifer, fuck, </span>
  <em>
    <span>fuck</span>
  </em>
  <span>, please!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He waits until she makes eye contact with him and then he puts his fingers to her clit at the same time he leans down to lift her chest up to his mouth. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She goes off like a firecracker. Practically folded backwards, hanging in the grip of his arm, fingers twisted white knuckle tight in the sheets below her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She screams his name again, and he thinks, </span>
  <em>
    <span>no, this is the moment I could live in forever.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just as suddenly, she goes to jelly in his arms, eyes closed and mouth open, forehead glistening with a sheen of sweat. She shivers, goosebumps rising over her body, and licks at her mouth like a cat after a bowl of milk. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He gives her time to revel in it, knowing how the feeling sort of drifts off like clouds retreating after a phenomenal storm. She stretches luxuriously in his arms, tapping the toes of the leg still slung over his shoulder against his skin. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t you look satisfied.” he murmurs, setting his mouth to the soft skin of her thigh to distract her as he pulls out, his hands coming up to cradle her leg and lower it gently.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her answering smile is all delight and greed. “Getting there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It might be a crime against some power that she is this perfect. Nothing ever created at the hand of his Father has ever been as utterly glorious as she is in this moment, beautiful and knowing and a little wicked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He helps her to sit up, gently extricating the pillow from beneath her. She falls back to the bed with a laugh, still half draped over his lap, pleased and unrushed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You are beautiful,” he has to tell her, all laid out and tangled, in him, in the sheets, a pre-Raphaelite masterpiece.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She covers her blushing face with her hands, but not before he catches her broad smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She pushes at his shoulder with one delicate foot, a teasing gesture.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sure you have some elaborate plan,” she says, suddenly sitting up in his lap, “but I’ve got a different one.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Without waiting for him to reply, she pushes him down and straddles him in one calculated move. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sways dangerously in his lap, her eyes fluttering for a second. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Chloe!” he says, rather more loudly than he intended. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She blinks, her skin going a little pale. “I’m okay. Just moved too fast.” She touches the edge of the stitches at her temple. “Head wounds do that. I’m fine now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He can’t help but give her a disapproving look, if she is feeling that weak…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Perhaps we should,” he starts, but she leans forward, silencing him with a filthy kiss.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He finds himself twisting and rolling beneath her, until she has him panting even more loudly than she had. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then again, maybe he just doesn’t care about being quiet. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sits up over him, a veritable sunrise, her eyes dragging over him as heavily as any touch. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like what you see?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Has he ever seen her smile this much in the entire time they’ve known each other? Has she ever smiled quite like that before? She is glowing with it, a litany of metaphors for light in a thousand languages spinning through his head. He puts his hands on her waist just to have an anchor to reality. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He touches a gentle hand to her thighs, just above her scraped knees. “Okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She seems to shift, testing the pressure, but the movement grinds her against him in a way that lights a fire under his skin. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think I’m good,” she replies, with unmistaken coyness. “You?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Divine,” he replies, partially to make her laugh (it does) and partially because he’s not sure there are words in any language she understands for what he is feeling right now. “Exquisite. Transcendent. About 30 seconds from shamelessly begging you to get a leg over.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her kiss is sweet and delighted, her nails draggings through his hair and into the hollow behind his ears.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think I can make that happen,” she finally responds, her tone matter of fact but her eyes glittering.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She slides down onto him in swift and alarmingly practiced move and he considers for a moment he might have finally met his match before brain whites out from the sensation. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’s about 20% aware of reality and 10% watching the sinuous curve of her body, and 70% invested in the incredible heat of her when her phone rings from somewhere amongst the pile of their clothes on the floor.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you fucking kidding me?” she says under her breath. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She leans over carefully, but does not part from him, in a move that is half dangerous and half blindingly pleasurably, scrambling at her discarded pants for her phone. She sits up again, the adjustment making them both gasp just a little, and grins down at him wickedly as she checks the name on the caller ID. Lucifer just spies the name “Dan” before she tosses the phone amongst the waves of sheets with an impatient sound. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer has to kiss her all over again, just for that. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She is a livewire in his arms, grinding down with a masterful little twist of her hips and dragging  endless moans out of him. He never had any doubts in her, but she’s rather more creative than he expected and he just can’t imagine she learned it from poor, boring Daniel. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No wonder he was so gone on her. If she can do this to the Devil, what chance does any mere mortal have at her hands?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her phone rings again and she almost yells in frustration, distracted from her focus on chasing her pleasure.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For that alone Lucifer will condemn whoever is calling her this time, especially if it’s the douche.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She stares at him, all hunger like she can’t decide what she wants next, before they are interrupted by the phone’s muffled ringing coming from amongst the sheets yet again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck,” she says under her breath. She presses gentle fingers to his lips, giving another little experimental roll of her hips, and he doesn’t resist the urge to nip at her fingertips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hold that thought,” she says, scrambling amongst the sheets with her other hand for the phone. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He can see the screen is lit up as “Trixie” and he sighs, relaxing his hold on her a little. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry,” Chloe murmurs, bringing the phone up to her ear. He nods sympathetically, surprised to find himself content just to watch her. His fingers idly explore the crest of her hip bones and she smiles down at him fondly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi monkey, everything okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ha!” Lucifer hears a decidedly not Trixie voice say, “I knew you were ignoring my calls.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe rolls her eyes and Lucifer finds himself clutching her closer as Dan’s voice echoes from the little speaker. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is something wrong?” She asks. She sounds short and unhappy, a marked difference from the sounds she </span>
  <em>
    <span>should</span>
  </em>
  <span> be making right now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Where are you?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe pauses, looking down at Lucifer and the length of their </span>
  <em>
    <span>intimately </span>
  </em>
  <span>connected bodies, her mouth twisting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uhhhhh…” she makes an odd face Lucifer can’t read, “at Lux actually, with Lucifer.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There is a long moment of silence at the other end of the line before Dan says, “right, yeah, whatever. Look, the department wants a debrief with you tomorrow if you are up to it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe groans, and not in the fun enjoying herself way, and Lucifer has to tighten his fingers against his skin to keep from grabbing the phone and hurling it out the window. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know Chloe, but it’ll be quick. They just want to get info while it’s fresh in your mind. They already know you’ll be a little scrambled about the whole thing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer rolls his hips, just a little, mostly to see the way her eyes flutter and her throat works around a hard swallow, followed by the glorious fondly irritated look she gives him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fine, I’ll be there in the morning. But I’m not getting up first thing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There is another long, awkward silence. Lucifer leans up to mouth at one perfect breast and Chloe chokes a little. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, I gotta run,” Chloe says, hoarsely. Lucifer grinds into her recklessly now, relishing the way her voice wobbles. “See you tomorrow.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She doesn’t wait for Daniel to reply, hanging up the call and tossing her phone away from the bed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She dives for him, but he holds her back, suddenly processing her words and distracted by how appalled he is. “You’re going to work tomorrow?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe rolls her eyes, “not really, just a debrief. Maybe a few hours? I just want to clear out my email, make sure my desk is still there, you know?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You are meant to be resting.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe pets at his hair, scratching her nails in a little and making him shiver. “Like I’m resting right now?” she asks with an impish grin, “it won’t be long. You can drive me to and from the precinct if you want?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer decides he’s going to make Dan’s life Hell tomorrow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course. I can’t leave my partner on her own after all, especially when she’s injured.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She pulls him up for a kiss, gasping a little against his mouth when the movement jostles their position. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Now if you’ll excuse me,” Lucifer murmurs, “I have rather more important things to tend to right now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer has an extensive list, but they can start from the top. “Ensuring that the patrons can hear you enjoying yourself all the way down in Lux.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” Chloe says with a laugh, “through all that concrete and over the music?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer finds himself grinning back, “We could move to the balcony? They can at least enjoy a symphony while they wait outside.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The smile in her kiss tastes of marigolds. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He already has a running list of other ways he wants to kiss her, starting with a minimum ten new ways just tonight. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In a move that knocks him out of his reverie and possibly kills him on the spot, she slides her hands down his forearms, sits up suddenly, and then uses the grip she has leveraged on him to bodily roll back down. He’s not ashamed of the way he swears, her name mixed among the syllables, and she throws her own head back and does not quiet her answering sounds.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It feels more like a conversation than any words he’s ever spoken.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In the same vein, the minimal patience he’s ever had is rapidly spinning away from him and he’s having trouble focusing on the task at hand or the earthly plane in general. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He takes her by the waist, momentarily distracted by the length of his hands over the soft skin there, and digs his thumbs into the hollow at the bottom of her hip bones, setting her bucking delightfully in his grip. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He braces his feet on the bed and snaps up into her and she scrambles at his arms for support, “Lucifer!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He leans up, kissing her messily, more panting breaths and slick tongues than anything. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t think I’m ever going to get tired of the way my name sounds in your mouth,” he says when he breaks away again, rolling his hips up to meet her again and again and </span>
  <em>
    <span>again. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lucifer,” she says, as if just to say it. Then, darker, more wanting, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Lucifer.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>done for</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Chloe, Chloe, Chloe, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Chloe,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” he can’t control the words that spill from him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Close?” she asks in a triumphant voice and no wonder no one thinks he’s the devil because obviously she’s the temptress in their partnership.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You have no idea,” spills from his lips without him really meaning it to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She grinds into him in deep, short little movements so deliciously perfect that he can’t wait to have an entire conversation learning where she picked up that particular trick.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her voice is nothing more than a litany of little punched out sounds now her head rolling on her neck and sending her gold hair swinging across her skin. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He puts his thumb to where they are joined, just catching her clit in light brushes each time they gyrate past.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh fuck,” Chloe says, chin falling, “fuck, fuck, Lucifer. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Yes!</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her entire body clamps down on him, his name coming out a little like a scream as she curls into him and he’s officially going over the edge with her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can I- Chloe, can-” he pants, still thrusting into her in little bursts. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She grabs him by the face and practically sucks his tongue into her mouth, gasping “Yes, yes,” wetly between them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer surges into her, his entire body focused on the connection of their bodies and the connection of their mouths. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer thinks he might actually black out for a few seconds and comes to with his open mouth pressed to the base of her throat, a breathy moan punching out of him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She has her fingers curled in the short hair at his nape, and he can feel her hot panting against the skin of his temple. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh fuck,: she says quietly and he can’t help it. He busts into laughter. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suddenly she starts laughing too, until they both nearly have tears running from their eyes clinging to each other amidst the ocean of sheets.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“All good?” he asks, kissing her with a light heart</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t want to move,” she complains, wrapping her arms around his neck and smacking a kiss to his ear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I certainly won’t make you, but don’t blame me if you get uncomfortable.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sighs, “should probably hop in the shower.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you want to? Or I could run a nice bath.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sits back, mournfully gesturing to her bandaged arm. “No bath today, but trust me I’m taking you up on that soon.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She yawns again hugely. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Give me a moment,” he says and helps her to gently slide free and lay on her side in a way that cradles her bad elbow and doesn’t put pressure on the cut to her temple. She yawns several more times through the whole process. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He leans over the side of the bed and opens the little unit there, reaching back to hand her a cold bottle of water, and then into another drawer for several warm, steamy washcloths.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s already cracked open the water, sitting up just enough to gulp it down. A trickle escapes and runs down her chin, arresting his attention.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You have a towel warmer next to your bed?” she says, startling him out of his fixation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She touches her fingers to the warm towels in his hands, “a towel warmer? That’s fancy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer is horrified, this is </span>
  <em>
    <span>new </span>
  </em>
  <span>to her? “Yes, of course, I’m not a barn animal. Bloody hell, what kind of neanderthals have you been sleeping with?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe is lit with her quiet, bubbling laughter. “I think you are the odd one out on this actually.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucifer shudders, “getting up to warm a washcloth? What is this, the Iron Age?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe shrugs, “you could just have some baby wipes or something?” Most guys don’t think about this you know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not going to pretend to understand why the majority of you are so unevolved. Seems like it should be long enough by now. You, my clever Detective, are of course light years ahead of your species.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh why thank you,” she says with a laugh, “how gracious of you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’ll have to rectify your entire sexual education immediately. This is a tragedy. Lesson one, the one who makes the mess always makes sure there are adequate supplies next to the bed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I like that one.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That is the bare minimum. That is the bar </span>
  <em>
    <span>literally</span>
  </em>
  <span> in Hell, and I would know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She runs her fingers in a little twist around the curls along his forehead, her face soft. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll take notes.. But, you never know, I might have a few tricks of my sleeve for you too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I absolutely hope so.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She grins, snuggling down into the pillow once more. He passes the warm washcloth over her skin and between her legs with gentle, purposeful movements, watching her sigh dreamily the entire time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He grabs a second washcloth and wipes himself down quickly, tossing them both in a basket off to the side and pulling the bedding up over their legs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you hot? Cold?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She smiles up at him sleepy and rests a hand on his thigh, “I’m perfect.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He scoots down next to her, crowding in close but not quite touching. He leans over her to kiss down the nape of her next, down her spine, and across the plane of one shoulder blade. When he finally lays his head on the next pillow over, he replaces his mouth on her skin with the very tips of his fingers, tracing endearments in languages older than time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Am I bothering you?” he whispers, kissing along the round of her shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sighs, sounding pleased and sleepy, “no. It’s nice. I might fall asleep on you though, that was probably a little more energetic than my doctor should ever know about.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>On second thought, has </span>
  <em>
    <span>he</span>
  </em>
  <span> ever smiled this much in his existence? He feels like he could press the pleased curve of his mouth to her skin over and over for days on end and in every combination possible and still never grow bored. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry,” she mumbles, “maybe next time I’ll have the energy to match you orgasm for orgasm..”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He freezes in shock for a second before a loud laugh jumps from his throat. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My, my you are dirty.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Too much?” she squints up at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Never!” he pecks her on the mouth a few times in exaggeration, “I love it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He freezes, watching the hope flitter past in her eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you,” he says, letting it all out in one breath, and finds it tastes like truth. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sits up suddenly and accidentally leans on her injured elbow. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck,” she says with a frustrated laugh, cradling it. “Sorry, forgot.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He kisses her, the humor on her tongue tastes like coconut.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you,” she murmurs into his mouth, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>I love you.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He doesn’t say it again, but the certainty that he could burns in his chest with a newfound flame.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She pulls aways suddenly to yawn and then laughs. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bored of kissing me already?” He whispers at her temple, dropping little worshipful kisses along her cheekbone and the healing skin there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is just a time-out,” Chloe says, making herself comfortable to try and not jostle her injuries. “The human needs a nap.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Does this mean I get to wake you up with morning sex?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can it wait until after I have another dose of ibuprofen?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How about we play it by ear?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nods sleepily. “Goodnight Lucifer.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He drops one last kiss to her mouth. “Goodnight, Chloe.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chloe sighs softly, just the edge of a word there that sounds an awful lot like his name.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Somehow, the whole of existence seems suddenly bright and new and exciting. He wants to wake her up just to tell her so. He wants to wake her up to kiss her again, properly, as many times as it takes until she understands what she means to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She lets out a colossal snore and turns towards him in her sleep.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He kisses the round of her shoulder. Perhaps in the morning.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>One of my favorite personal headcanons is that Lucifer experiences and understands much of humanity through art. It’s also how he starts to identify that there are fundamental things about humans that he might be missing. He enjoys music, first and foremost, but over time he’s watched painters and sculptors and dancers and beyond, all engrossed in their work. He’s stood gaping for hours in the Louvre and fallen asleep under the San Pantalon and meandered libraries with Madame du Pompadour, and still he cannot get enough of it all.</p>
<p>*Who wants a list of Lucifer’s “top ten bits of Chloe Decker I’m fond of”?  (it’s actually mostly not dirty)</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I make fandom playlists too (Spotify)! These are what I use when I’m writing these characters, not specific to a story or pairing, just songs that invoke the energy I’m looking for.</p><p>Always changing, always updating - check back often and listen on shuffle!</p><p>  <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Cy7X9U16QFR9Y4YPkgVH5?si=DWqb_yLjRumArR71KdOQhQ">The Devil in the Details - Lucifer Morningstar</a></p><p>  <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/76vfPr0fwSENEAg12QaWbf?si=aTTw9EhTQYiSrF4IPTTMHQ">Detective! - Chloe Decker</a></p><p>  <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2knMX0WdCLxAExENuGBllw?si=5hlSFT9UQ_-GrERmbPyxAg">World’s Greatest Forensic Scientist - Ella Lopez</a></p><p>  <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5BfaZAwuyrX1tCHpidxoPc?si=vF6KC2Q2Q8O2jxV08ZpIyA">My Demon Tends the Bar - Mazikeen (Maze) Smith</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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